Posted: 7:10 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015

Middletown seeing positive economic development efforts

By Ed Richter

Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — 

The Towne Mall Galleria is continuing its rebirth with the announcement of another new tenant, Planet Fitness.

The gym is planning to open inside the Towne Mall sometime before Dec. 31, city officials said. It’s the latest in a series of positive changes at the once-struggling mall on Ohio 122 near Interstate 75 that include the repaving of the parking lot, the opening of a new Burlington store last spring and the future opening of a Gabriel Brothers store on Oct. 10. On top of that, several outlot stores and restaurants such as Buffalo Wild Wings and Aspen Dental could be future tenants.

“Little by little, the mall is on its way back,” City Manager Doug Adkins said Tuesday.

The news about Planet Fitness was among a list of positive economic development news Adkins revealed during a 20 minute presentation Tuesday to the Middletown Rotary Club. Adkins told the crowd that so many positive things were happening in Middletown on the business front that it would be difficult to keep his comments brief.

The city manager outlined several key projects that are already underway in Middletown or soon will be and pointed out the amount of investment or reinvestment being made in the city, which values more than $700 million.

Among the top projects are:

·                       the $500 million Middletown Energy Center, a 500 megawatt natural gas power plant that will begin construction this fall;

·                       the Middletown City Schools’ upcoming new school construction project and renovations that are being paid for with a $95 million bond issue approved by the voters;

·                       the $36 million AK Steel Research and Innovation Center overlooking Interstate 75 that is expected to be completed sometime in late 2016;

·                       the $7 million Cohen Electronics Recycling Center that is expected to open in Spring 2016;

·                       the expansion of Valicor’s facilities on Cincinnati-Dayton and Lefferson roads;

·                       the $20 million Nicholas Place Apartment complex with 216 new, market rate luxury apartments;

·                       the $14 million Covenant Village, which is a 93-bed physical therapy center;

·                       and several new small businesses in and around the downtown area including Society Gift Shop, Blue Goose Deuce Restaurant, Combs BBQ, Uptown Country Boutique, Triple Moon Coffee Company, Emage Signs, and the newly opened Mockingbird’s Cafe.

Adkins said the $6 million invested for a new Burlington store that opened in a portion of the former Dillard’s store, is on track to more than doubling its projected sales from about $6 million to $14 million in its first year.

Other projects Adkins cited included the $1.8 million Commerce Corner gas station, restaurant and convenience store at Commerce Drive and Ohio 122; the proposed $1.25 million Butler County MetroParks River Center facility to be constructed in Spring 2016 near the Great Miami River near the Bicentennial Commons park; the proposed $12 million to $14 million Manchester Hotel and Snider Ford/Sonshine Building renovations to create a hotel and a brewery downtown; and work on the $5 million renovation of the Sorg Opera House.

More housing projects are also being planned for the Renaissance subdivision. He said 33 homes are under construciton and 78 patio homes are being planned.

While these projects are in the planning stages or soon will or are already under construction, Adkins said the city’s economic development philosophy has to focused on preparation.

“Our philosophy centers on being prepared to do the best business for the city every single day,” he said.

Adkins said that preparation included hiring an additional assistant economic development director and placing them in areas of their strengths and expertise.

He said key focuses of the economic development staff are site development, incentives management, workforce development, infrastructure development, business retention of both large and small businesses, downtown development, small business development, and redevelopment of the city’s airport.

Adkins said the city needs to develop standard operating procedures, a capital improvement plan and a maintenance plan for the airport to open up aerospace and industrial development there. He said he will meeting with FAA officials in Detroit next month.

“We’re working with The Chamber (of Commerce serving Middletown, Monroe and Trenton) on workforce development,” Adkins said. “With Butler County’s unemployment rate at about 5 percent, workforce development is our most critical need because the first thing a business wants to know if there is access to an available workforce.”

Other procedural things are being streamlined, such as developing a one-page break-even incentive sheet to make quick determinations of what might be available for a company; working with City Council on what level of income tax and fee rebates would be available to a business; and working in partnership with the Middletown and Franklin school boards on possible property tax abatements would be appropriate for new projects.

Adkins said the city is also using new tools such at the Port Authorities in Butler and Warren counties; the Butler County Land Bank; working with Middletown Moving Forward to create a reinvestment fund for gap financing of projects needing additional capital to get a project underway; rewriting the city’s 50-year-old zoning code; improving traffic flow in the city; improving interchange gateways

Major projects for Middletown

Middletown Energy Center, $500 million

Middletown City Schools, $95 million

AK Steel Research and Innovation Center, $36 million

Cohen Electronics Recycling Center, $7 million

Nicholas Place Apartment complex, $20 million

Towne Mall Galleria, $6 million

Covenant Village, $14 million

Source: City of Middletown

 

Vet, you notice one thing missing from much of the fluff spouted about investments -- where are the job numbers?  Hamilton is adding thousands of jobs.  What is this town accomplishing?

Economic Development

SEPTEMBER 16, 2015LEAVE A COMMENT

Well if he does read this site, Bill asks a good question:

Allow me to vent a little bit and respond to Adkins and his thoughts on the negative feedback to his "good news".

Adkins, you and your current little group of city ruiners have certainly done your fair share of damage to a once proud city. The remainder of the blame goes to the incompetents who proceeded you the last 30 years. You have brought the city to it's knees with your ghetto building invites to lower income, Section 8 overabundance, druggies type invites,and helped continue the poor image for the city and have created a "them against us" mentality in this town where your little band of merry men have shut the door on the majority of wants and needs of the average citizen. You have no intention of listening to what we have to say nor would you implement any of our ideas if we presented them to you. You are hell bent on having it your way and will not take no for an answer. Just as you get tired of all the negativity on the blogs, so to, do we get tired of all the money wasted downtown. the continual plans that go awry and the failed direction this city has taken the last several decades. The city is a joke to surrounding communities and is a shadow of what it once was.

It is difficult for me to not get angry having lived through the great years of the 50's and 60's touching on the early 70's and then seeing it in the condition it is in today. You would feel the same way if you were a native son and lived here during that time period and being able to make the comparison.

If you would open the doors to city hall and open your minds to some suggestions that may go against the grain of the "grand plan" you have for the city, perhaps the relationship between "Johnny average citizen" and city leaders would be better and we could work together. As long as you want to run the entire show, with no input from the people who really care about the city, it will remain adversarial at best.

You want the negativity to stop? Then stop loading the gun with blanks and start doing some pertinent things to grow this town and don't take decades to do it either.

You ranted......I ranted. We both feel better now, I'm sure.

Oh, and not looking backward may be a mistake on your part. How else are you going to gage the excellence that was this city in the past versus the situation you have now? Good things can still be emulated even today. Learn from the successes and mistakes of the past.