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Steps to start a business in the new year

1/9/2023

 
A new year means resolutions for many. Maybe you have decided this is the year you begin something new. If one of those dreams is to start your own business but you don’t know where to begin, look no farther that the CEP. We have a complete playbook on our website that takes you through the steps to begin a new business.

If you have any questions, contact us directly at 937-653-7200 or by email at [email protected] or [email protected]

Grocery Opens Soon in St. Paris

4/8/2021

 

Ice Cream Parlor Will Also Return

St. Paris Shoppers Groceries & Deli
A new grocery store will open in St. Paris at the site of the old IGA. The sign is ready and the store is set to open soon. Urbana Daily Citizen Staff photo
It’s been two years since the IGA grocery store closed in the village. Since then, St. Paris residents have been relying on its Dollar General store for quick shopping trips within the village, but the lack of an actual grocery store has been a glaring void for residents who don’t want to drive to larger towns.

After several months of planning, a new store will open at the old IGA location.

The new owner, Raj Vangaveti, said he plans to be opening “any day now” as St. Paris Shoppers and Grocery. The store will include fresh produce, meats and other traditional fresh grocery items, Vangaveti said.
​

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St. Paris Growing its Commerce

1/19/2021

 
Family Country Cuts in St. Paris salon.
Laryssa Vanhoose has her hair cut to shoulder-length at Family Country Cuts in St. Paris. Vanhoose drives from Springfield to patronize Janie Douglas and her salon. Photo by Andrew Grimm | Andrew Grimm Photography
By Andrew Grimm, Urbana Daily Citizen Contributing Writer
ST. PARIS — Last year was a rough one for small businesses with a pandemic and measures taken in Ohio to slow the spread of the virus and with many shoppers buying online instead of local. Despite the challenges, small municipalities like St. Paris are striving to keep their commerce areas surviving and thriving.

Village Administrator Spencer Mitchell has actively promoted businesses around the village. Mitchell has been sharing updates on existing and upcoming businesses at village council meetings and on social media.

“There are businesses here that are important to the people of St Paris,” said Mitchell, citing a number of existing small businesses that have managed to navigate the COVID-19 situation and continue to serve the community. “Kyle Bowman of St. Paris Hardware, Jeff Wooten of Wooten Automotive and Dale Thornton of Thornton’s Carpet — those are just some of the business owners that I’ve spoken to throughout this stressful year.”

Mitchell credits each owner’s business acumen and commitment to the St. Paris community to “grow stronger” in 2021. “Shopping local, supporting local businesses and promoting goodwill in the community is what we in St. Paris believe in,” he said.

Mitchell is highlighting the accomplishments of business owners and businesses that recently opened, are planning to open, or are renovating in the village.

Family Country Cuts, located at 211 W. Main St. opened this month.

Janie Douglas’s salon offers a variety of services such as haircuts for men and women, coloring, make-up, facial waxing, manicure and pedicure and facials.

Douglas brought on two more workers, one full time and one part time, and is excited to see the growth of her business. Hinting at possibly including massage therapy, Douglas hopes to see the small operation become a full-fledged salon.

Walk-in hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and by appointment only weekdays after 5 p.m. and on Saturdays. Appointments can be made by calling 937- 869-8300.

Longbow Health Plans, located at 120 S. Springfield St. opened in June of 2020 and is an agency composed of insurance professionals who offer “high quality insurance products and retirement planning services to meet your goals and budget.”

Clay Ruffner, the founder of Longbow, graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and later Case Western Reserve University with an MBA. Clay is a licensed, independent agent “committed to not only finding clients fantastic coverage,” but also providing ongoing support. “We aren’t finding you coverage and then leaving you in the dust,” Ruffner said. “Put us as a contact on your phone, because we never want to be far away, and always want to be your trusted expert.”

Longbow Health Plans holds office hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and can be reached by calling 937-788-7713.

Retail store Pony Wagon Bargains, located at 146 S. Springfield St. opened in October of 2020.

Owners Jason and Jessica Anderson held the store’s grand opening on October 31. Claiming to have “something for everyone,” the Pony Wagon Bargains offers discount prices on many top name-brand items including electronics, household, health and beauty, children’s toys, baby items and more.

Pony Wagon Bargains is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; 4-8 p.m. on Wednesdays; and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays.

Future offerings
A new grocery is preparing to open this spring after the village lost its IGA to closure. Since the IGA closed, village residents have been relying on a chain store retailer and the local farmers market during the warm season.

Mitchell met with the owners of the new business and toured the progress of renovations in late December.

Mitchell said the new owners do not wish to speak publicly, but promised to relay any permissible information to the public as it becomes available. “He’s excited to join this community and the community is excited about having a grocery store once again. Details on branding, staffing and things of that sort have not been communicated to us yet,” Mitchell said of the unnamed owner.

Debbie McGuire Lyons is the building owner at 115 Main St.
​
Braden’s Cafe & Sweets was the last tenant and has since closed.

Lyons is in the midst of a full renovation of the entire building, but has not indicated what the long-term plans will be. Lyons declined public comment but did say “the structural repairs are underway” as she has “big plans for the building’s future.”
Reach Andrew Grimm at [email protected].

Former Urbana Manufacturing Building to get $2M Facelift

12/17/2020

 
Urbana Manufacturing Building Facelift
Click image to view video on WHIO-TV's website.
By: Jenna Lawson, WHIO-TV
By this time next year, the entire corridor west of Urbana’s Monument Square could look completely different.

City and county economic development officials announced this month that the former Q3 JMC (Johnson Manufacturing Company) building on Miami Street will soon undergo a nearly two million dollar renovation and house three future businesses.

The building has been vacant for over 10 years.

“We’re going to see new work, new life, new employees in this building,” said Champaign Economic Partnership Director Marcia Bailey.
​

Securing the building and cleaning up the site took the team effort of private and public partnerships like the City of Urbana, the Champaign Economic Partnership and True Inspection Services, LLC, a full-service commercial inspection, engineering and construction management company.

TIS is now the owner of 12.6 of the 20 acre site, including the building. TIS Executive Vice President Joe Timm said three tenants will move into the building after its restoration – TIS, Community Health and Wellness Partners out of Logan County and The Door Shop, which is a commercial door company.

Project partners hope that after the work is completed, other investors will be drawn to build on space behind the building and part of the site’s acreage on the other side of the bike path.

The JMC project piggybacks off of the ongoing development of the FC Legacy Place senior living project that will transform the former North and South elementary schools and the Douglas Inn into affordable senior housing.

“We’re kind of looking at this as the anchor client or anchor site for helping redevelop this whole neighborhood,” Timm said.
​
Construction bids for the project will go out soon, and the businesses are expected to move in by fall 2021.

Restoration of Former Q3 JMC Building to Begin Soon

12/1/2020

 

Three Businesses to Move in Next Fall

Urbana Q3 JMC Building
An artist's rendering of the front exterior of the Q3 JMC building at 605 Miami St. in Urbana.
​After being vacant since 2008, and a prominent eyesore, the former Q3 JMC, Inc. building at 605 Miami St. in Urbana will be restored and renovated over the next 12 months to reestablish it as an attractive contributor to the local economy. By next fall, the building will be the new home of three businesses.
 
Work on the $2 million project will begin in four to six weeks, says Joe Timm, Executive Vice President of True Inspection Services, LLC (TIS), which acquired the property in May from the City of Urbana. Plans by McCall Sharp Architecture are nearly complete, and bid packages will soon go out to local contractors, Timm said.

Once work is completed, TIS – a minority-owned, full-service commercial inspection, engineering and construction management company – will occupy the building’s second floor, moving from its current South Main Street location.
 
Community Health & Wellness Partners (CHWP), which offers a full range of primary medical care including behavioral health services in Bellefontaine, Indian Lake and West Liberty, will open a newly approved Urbana location on the first floor of 605 Miami St. by late fall 2021. The Health Resource Service Administration has also granted CHWP approval to open a school-based health center in West Liberty-Salem Schools in early 2021, CHWP President/CEO Tara Bair said.
 
The third business – The Door Shop, a commercial door and hardware distributor – will have light manufacturing and warehouse operations at the site.
 
The former Q3 JMC building is the fourth major vacant structure in Urbana to be given a new lease on life this fall. It joins the Douglas Hotel and the former Urbana North and South Elementary Schools, which are being restored and renovated for FC Legacy Place, a total of 51 affordable senior apartments.
 
“Both projects have moved forward thanks to strong public-private partnerships, of government and business working together to obtain the necessary funding and provide the expertise to bring plans to reality,” said Marcia Bailey, director of the Champaign Economic Partnership (CEP), Champaign County’s economic development agency.
 
Bailey credits the Champaign County Board of Revision for helping set the wheels in motion for the Q3 JMC project when it approved in 2015 the City of Urbana’s request to obtain the property free of unpaid back property taxes and other encumbrances after no one bid on the property at a sheriff’s sale.
 
The city took ownership of the 20-acre site in 2017, said Doug Crabill, community development manager who has managed the project for the city. After that the city pursued redevelopment of the property, to clear it of contamination and prepare it for development by new owners.
 
Bailey assisted the city in reaching an agreement with TIS, the city’s development partner, to oversee the site cleanup and redevelopment. “They were the only company that came forward with interest in renovating the building and turning the brownfield into a greenfield for business development,” Bailey said. “Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to find an end user for the property because of the contamination that had to be removed.”
 
On behalf of TIS, Bailey wrote an application for a JobsOhio Site Redevelopment Pilot Program grant to help fund the work.
 
JobsOhio, encouraged by the number of community partners involved, awarded TIS a reimbursable grant of $883,947 to help cover the cost of demolition, environmental remediation, asbestos abatement, removal and disposal of waste, and site preparation. The city provided $348,435 in matching funds, and TIS contributed $116,145.
 
TIS has acquired 12.6 acres on the east side of the 20-acre redevelopment site, including the Q3 JMC building. The remaining portion of the 20-acre site is being readied to be marketed for business development, Crabill said.
 
Timm said TIS’s new location will “help take us to the next step in the growth of our company, to hire more personnel and expand our operations.” In addition, he said, some of the 12.6-acre parcel that the former Q3 JMC building sits on will be developed for sale to other businesses.
 
“The building will be an anchor for future development on the rest of the property, restore jobs lost when Q3 JMC closed, and generate tax revenue for our community,” Bailey said.  
 
Kerry Brugger, Urbana’s director of administration, said, “We’re excited to see the building come back into productive use. It’s a great project for our community. It eliminates a severe safety and health nuisance for the community and will retain and create jobs.”
 
Of TIS, he said, “It’s been a pleasure working with them. They’ve been an excellent partner to work with.”
​

Legacy Place Project Gets Green Light

9/18/2020

 
Work Begins to Transform the Douglas Hotel and Former Elementary Schools into Senior Apartments
Work crews will soon begin transforming the long vacant Douglas Hotel in downtown Urbana and the former Urbana North and South Elementary Schools into 51 affordable apartments for senior citizens.
 
With release this week of about $13 million in previously approved financing, the long-anticipated Legacy Place project got the green light to begin renovation of the historic buildings, says Duane Miller, F&C Legacy Place president. Transfer of the funds to Legacy Place was delayed by pandemic-related office closures.

Cobblestone Hotel & Suites - Urbana Now Open!

6/12/2020

 
The new Cobblestone Hotel & Suites in Urbana officially welcomed its first guests on Friday, June 12th!
Reservations are now available online at https://www.staycobblestone.com/oh/urbana/

New Life for Four Gables

3/17/2020

 
Four Gables in Urbana, Ohio
The Champaign County Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting for The Four Gables in November 2019. Located at 300 N. Main St. in downtown Urbana, the building now owned by Bob and Kim Arms was built in the late 1800s and has undergone numerous renovations while preserving its historical character. The structure houses apartments and Airbnbs. Businesses on the first floor include Emerson Wagner Realty, The Nail Place, Quality Cuts Barbershop, and Champaign Chiropractic Center. At the ribbon-cutting were, from left in back, Paul and Lucia Ober, Kara Stephens, Rufus Humphrey, Eric Turnmire, Bill Bean, Steve Pond, from left in front, Natalie Frueh, Laurie Stickney, Nancy Martin, Kim Arms, Bob Arms, Marilyn Leopard and Sara Neer.

​

Ribbon Cutting for Dorcey's Flowers Set for Feb. 6

1/13/2020

 
Dorcey's Flowers Urbana
The Champaign County Chamber of Commerce will host a ribbon cutting for Dorcey’s Flowers on Thursday, Feb. 6, from 12 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the new shop located near Let’s Eat Cake at 121 Scioto St. in Urbana.

New Restaurant Hoping to Mirror Urbana’s Growth

1/13/2020

 

Downtown spot opening this month to feature health food

Downtown Nutrition Urbana
Downtown Nutrition, a new health food restaurant, is opening in Urbana later this month.
By Brooke Spurlock, Springfield News-Sun Staff Writer
A health food restaurant is coming to Urbana.

Downtown Nutrition, at 221 N. Main St., is scheduled to open later this month.

Owners Mike and Sammie Ropp said it was time to move back home to be with family.

The city is a big part of the couple’s story, Sammie Ropp said.

“I grew up in a tiny town outside of Springfield called South Charleston and he grew up in a tiny town outside Urbana called West Liberty, so this was kind of the middle ground,” she said.
​

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1512 South US Highway 68, Bay 14,
Urbana, Ohio 43078

Mailing Address: 
PO Box 268, Urbana Ohio 43078
937-653-7200
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