SPIDER - dined in Monroe last week, and a sandwich downtown this week

big difference in Monroe

signature dishes were different and somewhat disappointing

have never been impressed with the operation downtown, but they are trying....

had it made when only the easy original spot

let's hope that they hold it together and get even better than before

Cincy St.culinary school?

Spider
I heard that Cincy State Culinary School is still having some financial problem. I do not believe they will ever open up a school in Middletown. CS had also talked about opening a Bakery School in the old Senior Citizens building that City Hall gave them…however I don’t see that happening either.
Don’t forget that HEP stated that they needed 5,000 students to break even here in Middletown within the next five years. That’s a lot of students for these types of classes. jmo

Spider and LMAO
Reread this article from 2011 and notice that New Bedford Mass with a population of 100,000 only has 1,600 students enrolled and about half of these are online students

City hopes to reap successes of Massachusetts college sites

By Andy Sedlak, Staff Writer 11:13 PM Sunday, November 20, 2011

    MIDDLETOWN — Forty-seven new businesses. Three to four coffee shops. “Several” new restaurants over the past five years.
    These things demonstrated positive spin-off activity many say is tied in part to the development of local community college sites in New Bedford, Mass.
    Mayor Larry Mulligan and local attorney Greg Pratt visited New Bedford in late October. The city houses Bristol Community College, where a recent extension project was developed by Boston-based Higher Education Partners LLC. HEP is also responsible for the development of a Cincinnati State Technical and Community College campus in downtown Middletown.
    Those in New Bedford touted the influence their campus has had on the city.
    “We saw the finished product,” Mulligan said. “And it was impressive.”
    Mulligan’s trip was ahead of a finalized deal that, according to Cincinnati State officials, is in sight. Jean Manning, vice president of marketing and communications, said attorneys have agreed to a final contract, which has been forwarded to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office for further review.
    “Most everything has been agreed to ... We’re trying to move quickly,” she said.
    The goal is to have a finished contract in time for the regularly scheduled board of trustees meeting on Tuesday.
    “We’re anxious,” Manning said.
    Mulligan said the trip to Massachusetts served as a form of due diligence. He and Pratt flew out Oct. 26 and returned the next day, visiting HEP sites in New Bedford and Lawrence, Mass.
    Lawrence’s HEP extension to Northern Essex Community College was brand new, just opening this year. It enrolls about 150 students.
    But BCC officials see the HEP-overseen extension that opened in 2010 as an enrollment boost to a city whose revitalization is tied to educational institutions. Classes began in New Bedford about 10 years ago and roughly 1,600 students are currently enrolled in the city’s BCC programs, according to Milton Clement, the college’s acting registrar.
    This includes between 300 and 400 at HEP’s building. Upon its opening last year, it enrolled about 140.
    “We’ve grown enormously,” Clements said.
    Mulligan and Pratt met with city and college representative at these sites.
    Diane Arsenault, executive director of Downtown New Bedford, Inc., a private nonprofit that works closely with the city in economic matters downtown, met with Mulligan and Pratt during their trip.
    Over lunch, Arsenault spoke with the two about New Bedford’s resurgence.
    In an interview with the Journal, she said attracting college campuses — aside from BCC, the city also holds a University of Massachusetts satellite campus for visual arts students — was central to revitalization plans.
    “The economic development office put the schools as a high priority in the turn around,” she said. “The colleges are part of what attracts business ... We’ve had Bristol Community College here for a few years and they keep building and expanding.”
    The city has seen an increase in retail shops, offices and art galleries. A number of buildings have been renovated into upscale loft apartments, she said.

But 10 years ago, downtown New Bedford was “deserted” after business hours and slow on weekends.
    The schools were key, but Arsenault attributes “many pieces” to New Bedford’s turnaround. For one, the southern Massachusetts city — its population of about 100,000 people is roughly twice as big as Middletown — gets boating traffic from the Boston area and Cape Cod.
    “It took them four or five years or more to do it, but (educational branches) were part of it,” Mulligan said. “(Efforts) were not strictly tied to the college, but really, were the combined efforts we’re talking about of generating additional activity and interest downtown.”
    Councilman A.J. Smith said the mayor’s trip was “certainly worth the time.”
    “In this situation, I totally trust the mayor’s judgment,” he said.
    Cincinnati State officials have said the goal is to enroll between 200 and 400 students in the Middletown campus’ first year of operation and as many as 3,000 in five years.
    The city acquired the former Masonic Temple, First National Bank, former CG&E and Bank One buildings in December 2010 to secure their use for a Cincinnati State branch campus. The Manchester Inn was acquired in March. The city paid more than $400,000 for all the buildings.
    Plans are for the school to move into the former CG&E and senior center buildings in time for classes to being next fall. Further usage would be based on enrollment figures.
    Contact this reporter at 
(513) 705-2871 or Andrew
.Sedlak@coxinc.com.