Champaign County News

Champaign Economic Partnership - CEP Ohio
  • Why Champaign County?
  • Business Playbook
    • 2020 Ohio Municipal Guide
  • Site Selector
    • Available Properties >
      • Q3/JMC Property
    • Financial Incentives
    • Training Incentives
    • Maps
    • Utilities
    • Tax Reform
  • Key Industries
    • Agri-Business
    • Manufacturing
    • Health Care Services
  • Workforce & Talent
    • Champaign Works Job Board
    • Wage & Benefit Survey
    • Engineering Survey
    • Local Schools
    • Colleges & Universities
  • Community
    • Housing Study
    • Demographics
    • Maps
    • Real Estate Agencies
  • News
    • Public Notices
    • Newsletter
  • About
    • Staff
    • Board
    • Partnership Investors

Former Urbana Manufacturing Building to get $2M Facelift

12/17/2020

0 Comments

 
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.
0 Comments

Restoration of Former Q3 JMC Building to Begin Soon

12/1/2020

0 Comments

 

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.”
​
0 Comments

‘Legacy Place’ senior housing project moves forward in Urbana, construction to start soon

9/18/2020

0 Comments

 
By: Jenna Lawson, WHIO
View video of the announcement on WHIO's website
There were many points in the last five years that community partners thought ‘Legacy Place’ might never happen.

It took time to capture nearly $13 million in funding sources, including historic tax credits – not to mention delays due to the pandemic. But on Thursday, partners announced the funds were released and they are able to move forward with the project. It’s possible construction could start within the next week.

‘Legacy Place’ transforms the Douglas Inn in downtown Urbana and two former elementary schools (North & South) into affordable senior housing. 51 units will be created for those 55 and older, with six of them being devoted to people with disabilities.

“It’s just a real renaissance for Urbana,” Mayor Bill Bean told News Center 7′s Jenna Lawson.

Duane Miller, with development company Flaherty & Collins and also president of F & C Legacy Place, said the project accomplishes two goals: turning three vacant properties into useful properties and filling the need for affordable senior housing in Urbana.

“I love to jump into the skin of a community that’s looking for help and looking for opportunities to spur on their own development,” he said.

The Douglas has been vacant since 2004 and has long been a large eyesore on the southwest corner of Monument Square. The building has somewhat deteriorated and was the target of multiple arson fires in 2019.

The former owner of the property, John Doss, has done work to stabilize the structure. The elementary schools, despite being about 100 years old, are in solid shape, partners said.

The timeline for the project will move quickly. Developers estimate about six months to complete both elementary schools and a little over a year to finish the Douglas. Partners are hopeful that the project will have a positive domino effect on other aspects of Urbana living including neighboring businesses and housing.

“We may see some of those seniors who may move in here and now their single family homes are available for a new families to move in,” said director of the Champaign Economic Partnership, Marcia Bailey.

Bailey added that this solution also preserves the history of all three buildings for the community to enjoy for decades to come. “Having these buildings standing as they are and being repurposed is a huge win for our community,” she said.

Other partners in the project include the City of Urbana, Urbana City Schools and Resident Supports and Services, Inc., which provides housing for seniors and adults with developmental disabilities.
0 Comments

Legacy Place Project Gets Green Light

9/18/2020

0 Comments

 
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.

0 Comments

Cobblestone Hotel & Suites - Urbana Now Open!

6/12/2020

2 Comments

 
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/
2 Comments

Responsible RestartOhio: Sector Specific Operating Requirements

4/30/2020

0 Comments

 
Click below for sector specific operating requirements for businesses to open as part of Responsible RestartOhio. There are sector requirements for:
  • Manufacturing, Distribution & Construction
  • Consumer, Retail & Services
  • General Office Environments
  • Healthcare & Hospitals​
Operating Requirements
0 Comments

New Restaurant Hoping to Mirror Urbana’s Growth

1/13/2020

0 Comments

 

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.
​

Read More
0 Comments

Excavation Project Begins

1/13/2020

0 Comments

 

Former ‘city farm’ to be mined for sand and gravel

Urbana Excavation Project
The old "city farm" is in the early stages of sand-gravel extraction that is expected to span the next 40-50 years. Heavy equipment is currently building earthen berms on the north border of the field near U.S. Route 36 west of Urbana. Photo by Andrew Grimm Photography
By Kathy Fox, kfox@aimmediamidwest.com
Urbana Daily Citizen

Urbana’s former "city farm" on the south side of U.S. Route 36 just west of Muzzy Road is undergoing a transformation as owner Morrow Gravel Company, doing business in Urbana as Urbana Sand and Gravel, begins a decades-long sand-gravel extraction project.

"We will be mining on the farm the next 40 to 50 years," said Dennis Garrison, president of Morrow Gravel Company’s Aggregate Division, of the 150-acre property.
​

Read More
0 Comments

New Cobblestone Hotel on Schedule, on Budget

1/1/2020

0 Comments

 
Cobblestone Hotel Urbana construction
The three-story, 54-room Cobblestone Hotel under construction at 170 state Route 55 is on budget and on schedule to be completed by mid-May 2020, according to Urbana Hotel LLC managing member Terry Howell.
By Christopher Selmek, Urbana Daily Citizen
​The three-story, 54-room Cobblestone Hotel under construction at 170 state Route 55, Urbana, is on budget and on schedule to be completed by mid-May 2020, according to Urbana Hotel LLC managing member Terry Howell. The framing crew lost 12 days of work due to weather, allowed under the construction schedule. Roofers were expected to begin placing tile on Monday.

“The schedule had allowances for weather, and they’ve used up all those allowances to date,” Howell said Friday, Dec. 27. “I would personally like to have seen it a week ahead of schedule, but we’ve had rain come at inopportune times. On Monday the shingle people will come in and they’ll start putting the soffit on and the shingles on.”

Howell said that the framing crew was contracted from Florida by BriMark Builders, that the crew is the number one framing crew for BriMark and that this is the 15th hotel they have built.

“Any construction project usually has a little impediment here or a miscommunication there. That’s kind of normal, but there’s not been very much of that,” he said. “There’s always some of that on any project, but there hadn’t been very much of that on this one. It’s going very smoothly.”

Plumbers and HVAC contractors are at work inside the structure. The concrete pool is built and just needs a liner. Howell said there are as many as 10-15 people working on site during any given day depending on what they are trying to accomplish that day.

“There’s a schedule where you have different trades that have to come together to fit,” Howell said. “The rooms are all laid out and numbered already on the inside. They’re laid out in a rough frame, and there’s an electrical map on each room so electricians know where to run wires and so on. It has been sequenced appropriately and is right on schedule and on budget. Everything is going fairly smooth.”

Howell added that the people working on the entrance will install awning, and then signage will go on the cupola. The “mountain of mud” currently surrounding the building will be transformed into a parking lot big enough to park buses beside the building within the coming months.

“I would have no problem staying here,” he said. “I live just three miles from here so I doubt if I ever will spend the night here, but all the rooms have character. We’ve got like six different styles of rooms … and they have varying amenities that they offer, so they’re not all the same. We are really excited.”

Christopher Selmek can be reached at 937-508-2304
0 Comments

Revitalization Efforts in Downtown Urbana Focus on Housing, More Shops

12/9/2019

0 Comments

 
By Hasan Karim, Springfield News-Sun Staff Writer
With the last piece of needed funding recently locked down, the ‘Legacy Place’ senior housing project in downtown Urbana is one step closer in bringing more than a dozen apartments in the area.

It is something city officials say will have a trickle down effect in downtown. The hope is with more people living there, it will boost business for shops and restaurants that are within walking distance.
​
In the past five years, the number of living opportunities in the area have about doubled.
​

Read More
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015

    Categories

    All
    Aerospace
    Agriculture
    American Pan Company
    Berry Digital Solutions
    Bundy Baking Solutions
    Business Advisory Council
    Business Community Support
    Business Liaison
    Business Playbook
    Career Fair
    CEP
    Champaign Aviation Museum
    Champaign County Events
    Champaign County Job Board
    Champaign County Jobs
    Champaign Foundation
    Champaign Health District
    Champaign Works
    Clark State
    Cobblestone Hotel
    Community Improvement
    Community Reinvestment
    Douglas Hotel
    DP&L
    Economic Development
    Edison State Community College
    Education
    FASTLANE
    Graham Schools
    Hall Company
    Health Care Services
    Honda
    Honeywell
    Housing Market
    Hughey & Phillips
    JobsOhio
    Johnson Welded Products
    Kiser Lake
    Koenig Equipment
    KTH
    Legacy Place
    Manufacturing
    Manufacturing Day
    Mary Rutan Hospital
    Mechanicsburg
    Mechanicsburg Business
    Mechanicsburg High School
    Mercy Memorial Hospital
    Monument Square District
    Moving Downtown Forward
    Navistar
    New Business
    New Construction
    North Lewisburg
    Ohio Hi Point
    Ohio Hi-Point
    Ohio TechCred
    Old Souls Farms
    Opportunity Zones
    ORBIS
    Parker Trutec
    Pioneer Electric
    Q3/JMC Property
    Real Estate
    Recruitment
    Rittal
    Robert Rothschild Farm
    Rosewood Machine & Tool Co.
    Sarica Manufacturing
    Senior Center
    Senior Housing
    Shop Local
    Small Business Development
    Small Business Loans
    South Main Street Corridor
    Springfield Foundation
    Start A Business
    St. Paris
    Sutphen Corp
    Talent Retention
    Tax Incentives
    Technology
    Top 100 Micropolitan
    Transportation
    Triad High School
    Ultra Met
    Urbana City Council
    Urbana City Schools
    Urbana Hotel
    Urbana Planning Commission
    Urbana University
    Wage And Benefits Survey
    WEIDMANN
    West Liberty Salem Schools
    West Liberty-Salem Schools
    Wittenberg University
    Zoning

    RSS Feed

Picture
CEP Office Location:
3 Monument Square
Urbana, Ohio 43078
937-653-7200
Accessibility
All drone photography courtesy of Jassen Dobyns of UAVisions LLC. Additional photography courtesy of ​Dave Millner of the Champaign Camera Group.
Website by Berry Digital Solutions, LLC
Urbana, Ohio
Click on the logos for more information.
 Champaign County Jobs
Picture
Picture
Dayton Development Coalition logo
Champaign County Chamber of Commerce logo
Picture
Picture
Picture
North Lewisburg, Ohio website
St. Paris, Ohio
  • Why Champaign County?
  • Business Playbook
    • 2020 Ohio Municipal Guide
  • Site Selector
    • Available Properties >
      • Q3/JMC Property
    • Financial Incentives
    • Training Incentives
    • Maps
    • Utilities
    • Tax Reform
  • Key Industries
    • Agri-Business
    • Manufacturing
    • Health Care Services
  • Workforce & Talent
    • Champaign Works Job Board
    • Wage & Benefit Survey
    • Engineering Survey
    • Local Schools
    • Colleges & Universities
  • Community
    • Housing Study
    • Demographics
    • Maps
    • Real Estate Agencies
  • News
    • Public Notices
    • Newsletter
  • About
    • Staff
    • Board
    • Partnership Investors