Toledo Development News

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Mudhen419]

Is the Skyway Center or whatever it was called still being planned or did this idea get scraped?

[ilovetoledo]

Pardon my pun, you don't happen to be Opal Covey? She kept talking about a ferris wheel for the east side of the river during her run for mayor in 2000-01 endlessly.

I am definatly not Opal Covey. I am a junior at St. Johns Jesuit who is very interested in the way this community is being formed. I know that if they built a ferris wheel down there i would most definatly go down there more for dates, to eat, and enjoy toledo's skyline along with the Veterns Glass Skyway and its Colors during the night. Does anyone like this idea? I know i do. People may make fun because of my age but after all we are the generation who will take control after you. Teens are interested in the "New Thing" Fallen Timbers is new--so teens will be there. Westfield new (and always new stores comming in)-- teens. We are the ones who get to spend all of our parents money. The marina district needs something that will make it different from any other. A ferris wheel would make this distinction. Dont be fooled into thinking that this would not work, because obviously people before me have had the idea to.

[Pilliod Njaim]

I'm a junior at St. Johns Jesuit who is very interested in the way this community is being formed. I know that if they built a ferris wheel down there i would most definatly go down there more for dates, to eat, and enjoy toledo's skyline along with the Veterns Glass Skyway and its Colors during the night. Does anyone like this idea? I know i do. People may make fun because of my age but after all we are the generation who will take control after you.

This may sound cynical, but that completely explains the earlier dating comments. Trust me, once you're 21 (I'm 22 myself), dating options expand exponentially. You can go to nice bars and clubs, 21+ shows, etc., etc. If you move to a true college town for school like Athens, Bowling Green, or Oxford (Ohio's best college towns), you lose dating options, but finding someone to hook up with is much easier. Toledo gives you both since it's a big city that also has a big university with an increasing on-campus and adjacent student population. It's not really a commuter school anymore. The majority of students live on campus or in neighborhoods adjacent to to it, so you will see a lot more businesses (mainly bars and retail) opening up in that section of Toledo. The UT area is already undergoing a small revival.

I don't think a Marina District ferris wheel is that bad of an idea. Dillin already said he's putting in an "urban river beach", so anything is possible I guess. Coney Island in Brooklyn has a big ferris wheel, right? Why not Toledo too? I'd support a ferris wheel, and the views would be incredible.

[ilovetoledo]

i appreciate you not being a typical adult and saying that my opinion doesnt count or that my ideas arent of possible consideration. I hope that you dont look down upon me now that my true idenity is revealed...
The all-year ferris wheel is a good idea, in my perspective.

[tk29]

Anyone know what's replacing the old Bob Evans across from Northtowne?

[Bonjourtoledo]

Is the Skyway Center or whatever it was called still being planned or did this idea get scraped?


I haven't read or heard anything of the latest.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Pardon my pun, you don't happen to be Opal Covey? She kept talking about a ferris wheel for the east side of the river during her run for mayor in 2000-01 endlessly.

I am definatly not Opal Covey. I am a junior at St. Johns Jesuit who is very interested in the way this community is being formed. I know that if they built a ferris wheel down there i would most definatly go down there more for dates, to eat, and enjoy toledo's skyline along with the Veterns Glass Skyway and its Colors during the night. Does anyone like this idea? I know i do. People may make fun because of my age but after all we are the generation who will take control after you. Teens are interested in the "New Thing" Fallen Timbers is new--so teens will be there. Westfield new (and always new stores comming in)-- teens. We are the ones who get to spend all of our parents money. The marina district needs something that will make it different from any other. A ferris wheel would make this distinction. Dont be fooled into thinking that this would not work, because obviously people before me have had the idea to.


Thanks for clarifying yourself ilovetoledo, because Opal always talked about ferris wheel for years when she was on the campaign trail. However, I am still on the fence about the ferris wheel thingy and I think it's more suitable if it was built in between The Docks and Boyer ship museum because having a ferris wheel nearby residential development does not make sense.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Anyone know what's replacing the old Bob Evans across from Northtowne?

tk29, an authentic, locally-owned Mexican restaurant is moving in from the last I heard.

[ddp]

Anyone have any info on this development?

http://duketporter.com/Starboard%20Side%20A.html

I've never explored that "neck of the woods." Hope this trend continues along the river. We need river living all along the downtown corridor, in my opinion. Hopefully the Marina District will spur more of these types of developments (single family homes too?) in the near future.

[Pilliod Njaim]

^Some of them have already been built. I think they opened in 2005. They're pretty nice and they have great views of ship traffic on the river (Andersons and Cargill are just upstream).

[Bonjourtoledo]

^Some of them have already been built. I think they opened in 2005. They're pretty nice and they have great views of ship traffic on the river (Andersons and Cargill are just upstream).

I second what Pilliod said, because they are sold out in terms of this project the nearby developments of the brand new Locke Branch library and medical center which just recently opened up and new bike trail/ widened south entrance to International Park/The Docks. It's a rather nice area especially Miami Street turns into River Road which is a great scenic road to travel on during the fall season.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Arena prices
By Justin R. Kalmes
Toledo Free Press Metro Editor
jkalmes@toledofreepress.com

Luxury suite prices for Lucas County's new multipurpose sports arena appear to be in line with premium seating charges offered at similar-size venues in other mid-level markets.

The new arena, which will seat 8,000 to 10,000 people, depending on its use, will feature 20 luxury suites with seating for 12 individuals. Leases will cost $40,000 for just hockey and arena football contests or $55,000 for all events in the building. Lease prices include 12 tickets for each event that falls within its respective agreement, but do not include food and beverage fees.

It is expected the new Toledo arena will house an ECHL hockey franchise and an Arena Football League 2 team. The ECHL and af2 serve as low developmental leagues for professional hockey and football, respectively.

At Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Mich., leases for one of the building's 42 private suites average $33,000, said Lynne Ike, the arena's director of marketing. The 12,500-seat arena, which opened in 1996, is home to the American Hockey League's Grand Rapids Griffins and the Arena Football League's Grand Rapids Rampage.

Ike said she has a waiting list of about 50 individuals or companies interested in suite leases.

“I've only had four suites turn over in my six years on the job,” Ike said. “It's been pretty steady since we opened in 1996.”

In addition to about 48 home contests for the Griffins and Rampage, Van Andel houses about 77 other events each year, including ice shows, concerts, Detroit Pistons exhibition games, Michigan State basketball games, professional wrestling shows and college hockey games, Ike said. The Lucas County arena is expected to host 100 to 125 events of that nature each year.

Though lease prices for Van Andel's suites are less than luxury box fees at the new Toledo arena, they do not include tickets for individual events or food and beverage fees.

Ike said event traffic at Van Andel typically slows in summer because many performers book outdoor tours during that period.

The Grand Rapids venue is managed by Philadelphia-based SMG, which was hired earlier this year to manage the new Lucas County arena and the SeaGate Convention Centre.

At the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Ind., luxury suite leases range in price from $26,000 to $36,000 depending on the length of the agreement and size of the suite. A three-year lease for a 16-person suite costs $30,000. That price jumps to $36,000 for a 26-person suite. Five-, seven- and 10-year leases are also available for the arena's 24 suites.

Lease prices include tickets for all home games for the International Hockey League's Fort Wayne Komets, the NBA Development League's Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne men's basketball and any future sports franchise.

Tickets for other arena events and food and beverage fees are not included in suite lease prices.

The 12,500-seat arena houses more than 100 events each year, said Shannon Green, the venue's director of premium seating. Green said there is a suite waiting list of about 35 individuals or companies interested in leases.

At Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., a three-year lease for a luxury suite costs $37,500 per year and includes 12 tickets to two preseason and 40 regular-season games for the arena's AHL franchise, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Wachovia Arena is also home to an af2 franchise.

Prices for luxury suites at Columbus' Nationwide Arena, home to the NHL's Blue Jackets and the Arena Football League's Destroyers, cost considerably more than suite fees in smaller markets. Larry Hoepfner, senior vice president of business operations for the Columbus Blue Jackets, said the average price for one of the arena's 36 luxury suites is about $150,000 annually and includes 12 seats for each of the approximately 150 events that take place there each year. Nationwide Arena has a total of 52 suites, but 16 were sold to major companies in the Columbus area as part of the arena's construction deal, Hoepfner said.

The key to convincing corporations to purchase suite leases is justifying the $150,000 fee with good entertainment, Hoepfner said.

“Our job is to provide as many events as we can for our suite holders,” he said.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Suites compete for business elite
By Duane Ramsey
Toledo Free Press Staff Writer
news@toledofreepress.com

Toledo appears to have avoided a national trend at arenas and stadiums that are having trouble selling corporate suites at sports venues across the country.

The Toledo Mud Hens and the University of Toledo report no trouble selling out their suites to local companies. The real test may come when the Toledo market adds 32 additional suites at the new Downtown arena and renovated Savage Hall in the next two years.

UT has sold out all 44 of the suites at the Glass Bowl since the new press and skybox facility opened in 1990, according to Mike Karabin, senior associate athletic director.

At a cost of $20,000 per season for each suite with 24 tickets and amenities, those suites generate $1 million in revenue annually for the athletic department. The Glass Bowl also has 300 stadium club seats at $1,200 each that contribute to that revenue.

“We have been fortunate to sell suites to both large and small businesses, many that have been with us from the beginning,” Karabin said.

The Mud Hens have a waiting list of 10 to 12 companies for the 29 suites rented at Fifth Third Field. Most of the companies renting suites have five-, 10- or 15-year contracts, signed when the ballpark opened.

“The key to success in Toledo is that we have the university, a public institution, and not-for-profit sports franchises for arena football and hockey. It's not private groups or corporations profiting from that income,” said Joe Napoli, vice president/general manager of the Toledo Mud Hens Baseball Club Inc.

Napoli said he believes local businesses and labor leaders look at their investment from the perspectives of economic impact, quality of life and community relations.

The Mud Hens keep three suites open for rental by companies or persons for individual games at a cost of $1,000 to $1,500 each, which includes $250 for food and beverages. They have reservations for more than 50 of the 200 dates and suites for the 2008 home games, Napoli said.

Name recognition

Fifth Third Bank just completed the sixth season in a 15-year deal for the naming rights to the Downtown ballpark. Three primary reasons led to Fifth Third Bank's decision to invest in the naming rights for Fifth Third Field, according to Karen Fraker, senior vice president for marketing at Fifth Third Bank.

First, the bank believed Downtown development was important to the community. Second, it provided a good source of affordable entertainment for families of the bank's customers and employees.

Also, “the name recognition for the bank has gone far beyond our expectations,” Fraker said. “It has become a destination and an icon in the community.”

The naming of the baseball field in Toledo is not unique for the bank, which also has sponsored Fifth Third Field in Dayton and Fifth Third Park in Grand Rapids, Mich., for minor league baseball teams in those cities.

“It coincides with our company's culture and is supported corporately,” said Fraker. “Our employees are encouraged to become involved in community activities and organizations.”

Fifth Third Bank's corporate suite at Fifth Third Field was not part of the naming package. The company had committed to the suite before negotiating the naming rights.

The bank's business lends itself to using sports events that “provide perfect venues for entertaining customers and interacting with movers and shakers in the community,” Fraker said.

Fifth Third Bank also has suites at the football stadiums at Bowling Green State University and the University of Toledo.

In the past six years, Fifth Third Bank has invested $14 million in community relations, which include the naming rights and suites at the ballpark and stadiums, along with all donations, grants and sponsorships, Fraker said.

Sharing suites

It's not just large companies that use sports suites. Toledo-based AlfaGreen Supreme uses suites at the Glass Bowl and Fifth Third Field to entertain customers without having to worry about the weather conditions and still enjoy the game.

AlfaGreen shares a suite at the Glass Bowl, benefiting from the cost affordability and flexible plans available in the Toledo market compared to major conferences and professional sports teams. The company processes alfalfa by dehydration for use in animal feed and fertilizers at its facility in North Toledo.

OmniSource Corporation of Toledo has leased a full suite at the Glass Bowl for the past eight to 10 years due to the affordability of the entire package. The local metal-recycling firm also has season tickets for UT basketball, Toledo Mud Hens and some of the Detroit pro teams.

“It's a great, relaxed way to entertain customers, and people really enjoy it,” said Doty Hamilton of OmniSource, which has customers in Toledo, Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan. “It's been a tremendous asset for us.”

OmniSource doesn't have a suite at Fifth Third Field, but Hamilton said they rent the Roost at individual Mud Hens games for entertaining customers in the family-friendly ballpark.

Hamilton said they will wait and see what the suites cost at the new Downtown arena or Savage Hall before the company considers using them.

Columbia Gas of Ohio shares a suite at Fifth Third Field with two other companies and shares a suite at the Glass Bowl with one other firm.

“We try to be a good corporate citizen for the entire community and support many different charities and organizations with various facets of commitments,” said Chris Kozak, communications and community relations manager for Columbia Gas. Kozak is an occasional Toledo Free Press contributor of arts and sports columns.

Fraker and Kozak said they have been approached about renting suites at the new Downtown arena and renovated Savage Hall. Neither has committed to either location but both are considering their options.

The new arena

Naming rights for the new Downtown arena remain available. Napoli said it has had some interest in the naming rights and is discussing it with parties of interest, which he declined to identify.

Toledo Arena Sports plans to have between 100 and 125 events per year for arena football, hockey, music concerts, motocross and a variety of family shows at the Downtown arena. Napoli said they want to provide a long list of diverse events that will appeal to all age, economic and social groups.

Hockey will return to Toledo at the arena in the fall of 2009 and arena football will run annually from March through July 2010.

The new arena will offer 20 corporate suites with 12 seats in each suite. Leases for the suites will run $40,000 for the sports teams or $55,000 for all events in the arena and will permit sharing of suites by up to three tenants.

“We think it's the right number. We wanted it to balance with the suites in the new Savage Hall, Glass Bowl and Fifth Third Field,” Napoli said. “We were pleasantly surprised by the number of companies interested in the larger package.”

There are companies from the Toledo area that have or share suites in the major league cities of Cleveland and Detroit. Some of those companies also want to support the home teams, said Napoli.

Research shows that people from the 13-county region of Northwest Ohio travel to Detroit, Cleveland or Columbus for sports and entertainment events amounting to $42 million in economic impact.

“We want to capture more of those dollars that have left and keep them here,” Napoli said.

Some businesses have flourished around Fifth Third Field and the SeaGate Centre.

“The arena will create a more vibrant Downtown with more reasons for people to come here. We want Downtown to thrive for the whole region,” Napoli said. “People feel secure and comfortable coming to events in Toledo. People from outside the community have been very complimentary, sharing favorable feelings about their visits to Toledo.”

Neither Napoli nor Karabin isconcerned about competition for suites at the Downtown arena and the new Savage Hall. They agreed that some companies will support both, while others may support the college or professional sports.

The renovated Savage Hall may have a slight advantage because it will open for the 2008 basketball season. The Downtown arena is scheduled to open for the 2009 hockey season.

The new Savage Hall will offer 12 suites at a cost of $30,000 per year. It will also include 17 loge boxes ranging from eight to 18 seats complete with theater-style seating and waitress service similar to the 200 club seats in the Glass Bowl.

Karabin said the location of the suites in the new Savage Hall will be “A-plus, on the sidelines and close to the action.” They will be located across the upper level on the west side of the current arena.

“We already have several commitments for suites,” Karabin said. “It will be the best facility in our league when it's completed.”

Some preliminary work will begin outside this winter. Savage Hall will be vacated next March when the basketball season ends and the construction begins. The new facility is scheduled to open in November 2008 for the basketball season.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Wal-Mart expands in area with three new supercenters
By Duane Ramsey
Toledo Free Press Staff Writer
news@toledofreepress.com

As Wal-Mart opens three newly renovated stores into supercenters in the Toledo area, the retailer is also looking for a location on the north side of the city, possibly the former Northtowne Mall site, for another hypermarket.
Wal-Mart will hold grand openings for the newly converted supercenters on West Central Avenue and Glendale Avenue in November. The supercenter on Navarre Avenue in Oregon celebrated its grand opening Oct. 17.

The opening of the three supercenters will create an additional 150 jobs per store. Each supercenter employs about 350 people, so Wal-Mart has about 1,100 employees in the Toledo area that includes the store at Spring Meadows in Holland, said Dan Moore, marketing manager for Wal-Mart's Northwest Ohio market.
Wal-Mart will open another supercenter on U.S. 25 in Perrysburg during the first quarter of 2008. The company currently operates 10 locations in its Northwest Ohio market, including stores in Bowling Green, Bryan, Fremont, Napoleon and Wauseon.

Moore said Wal-Mart is looking for the right location for another supercenter on the north side of Toledo after it was unable to secure a desired site in Bedford, Mich. Moore said a northern location could be open in 2010 or 2011.

There are reports Wal-Mart may be interested in the vacant Northtowne Mall site. Ron Mosby, senior manager for public affairs in Ohio for Wal-Mart, would not confirm the company's interest in any specific site.

“We look at every reasonable opportunity to grow on sites that would be easy for our customers,” Mosby said. He declined to comment on whether the Northtowne site meets the company's needs.

At this time, Wal-Mart has made no formal applications or requests with the City of Toledo regarding a site in North Toledo, according to both city council and the mayor's office.

“We will favor any new development in that area that will attract not only shoppers from the immediate vicinity, but will bring in money from Northwest Ohio and Michigan residents, as well,” Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner said.

‘We can do better'

Outgoing City Councilman Joe Birmingham, who represents District 6 where the Northtowne site is located, said he recently met with Mosby and other Wal-Mart officials encouraging them to consider Northtowne for a new supercenter.

“I hope that would be a site they would be interested in. If Wal-Mart can take that vacant site and bring business to that area, I'm all for it,” said Birmingham, who was defeated in the primary election.

Lindsay Webb, the Democratic candidate for Birmingham's seat, is still undecided on her position of a possible Wal-Mart supercenter on the Northtowne site.

“I will vote the conscience of my community,” Webb said.

Webb said she does not support or shop at Wal-Mart. She is a member of the UAW, an employment law specialist and advocate for displaced workers.

“I believe that we can do better than Wal-Mart,” said Webb, noting one of her constituents suggested that The Andersons would be a good retail fit at the Northtowne site.

The Andersons currently is focusing on further developing its specialty food store in Sylvania. A company official said the company will evaluate opportunities for new locations in the market, but did not comment specifically about the Northtowne site.

Webb said she has received phone calls and e-mails with feedback about the subject, but would not comment on their content. She plans to hold at least four public meetings in District 6 to discuss the possible redevelopment of Northtowne and other topics with her constituents.

David Ball, the Green Party candidate for the District 6 seat, also thinks the area can do better than Wal-Mart or another retail store. As the largest Fortune 500 company in the world, Wal-Mart hires mostly part-time employees and doesn't offer health care to them, he said.

“We're focusing on retail and malls when we need to do something to bring in jobs that will invest in the technologies of the future, such as computers, wind and solar energy, to keep more of our students from moving out of Toledo and Northwest Ohio,” Ball said.

Economic impact

Wal-Mart's decision could depend on the rezoning of the Northtowne site. Lakeside Center, which owns the 75-acre site, had it rezoned for light industrial to meet its original redevelopment plan for the parcel. The site would need to be rezoned for commercial-retail to allow Wal-Mart to build a new supercenter on it.

Wal-Mart's supercenters compete with Meijer, which operates stores that also offer food and general merchandise in Maumee, Oregon, Sylvania and Toledo. The Meijer store located on Alexis Road is about one mile east of the Northtowne site.

“The competition Wal-Mart creates among retailers benefits people whether they shop at Wal-Mart or not,” said Mia Masten, director of corporate affairs for Wal-Mart's Midwest region. “At the end of the day, the consumer wins by paying less for what they buy.”

Wal-Mart not only has a significant presence in the Toledo area, but across Ohio. The company employs more than 51,950 people in the state.

The retailer has paid more than $82.4 million in state and local taxes in Ohio and collected more than $410 million in state sales taxes during its 2007 fiscal year.

However, Wal-Mart also has sought to minimize its payment of property taxes by filing more than 2,100 assessment challenges on properties where its stores and warehouses are located.

Based on a national sample of Wal-Mart stores and distribution centers, the company has filed challenges at more than one-third of its locations in the United States, according to Good Jobs First, a non-profit, non-partisan research center in Washington, D.C.

Wal-Mart has filed one challenge in Lucas County asking for a reduction in the assessed value of its store in Oregon from the current market value of $10.5 million to $7 million in 2006. No decision or recommendation has been made on the company's request.

It is not uncommon for large companies to file an “informal,” a request for challenging the assessed values of commercial property, according to the Lucas County Auditor's Office. An auditor considers the construction costs, expenses, income and value of other comparable properties and makes a recommendation.

If the company doesn't agree with the reassessed value, it can appeal to the board of revisions in the auditor's office. The board would render a decision within 60 to 90 days. That ruling can be appealed to the Board of Tax Appeals or Court of Common Pleas.

After Wal-Mart completed the conversion of its store in Bowling Green to a supercenter, the company filed for a reassessment on the site of the original store that is now a parking lot. Currently, the assessed value for that supercenter is $11.1 million, according to the Wood County Auditor's Office.

Good Jobs First reported that Wal-Mart loses more assessment challenges than it wins despite its enormous legal resources. The report also showed that Wal-Mart receives more than $1.2 billion in property tax abatements, income tax credits and sales tax diversions as economic development subsidies where it builds or expands stores.

In fiscal year 2006, Wal-Mart reported it spent nearly $14 billion on merchandise and services from 2,195 suppliers in Ohio. Wal-Mart stores and Sam's Club locations gave $7.4 million in cash and in-kind donations statewide in 2006.

Wal-Mart contributed a total of $25,000 to 10 different organizations in the community with the grand opening in Oregon. Moore said it would contribute similar amounts with the grand openings in November. The company is restoring a soccer field and park near the Glendale store that will be completed next spring at a cost of $56,000, Moore said.

At the same time, the retailer claims to have saved customers in Ohio an average of $2,515 per family by shopping at 141 Wal-Mart stores and 30 Sam's Clubs in 2006.

Wal-Mart recently lowered the price of more than 100 generic prescriptions to $4 each, providing access to drugs for 90 percent of all therapeutic categories. The company claims it has saved customers $350 million since it launched the prescription program.

New research conducted for Wal-Mart by Global Insight, an independent research firm, shows the retailer saves American families an average of $2,500 each year. That number reflects a 7.3 percent increase from $2,329 in 2004, according to the research.

Global Insight updated its original financial analysis of Wal-Mart's national and local impacts in terms of jobs, wages, prices and consumer buying power conducted in 2005.

The updated study confirmed the continued reduction in prices due to the presence of Wal-Mart, and growth in consumer spending from 2004 to 2006 translated directly into savings for consumers of $287 billion in 2006. That total represents savings of $957 per person or $2,500 per U.S. household.

The retailer is tracking the savings so far this year by installing a “savings ticker” outside Wal-Mart's home office in Bentonville, Ark. Wal-Mart claims it has issued 20 percent more price rollbacks in 2007 than last year.

[ilovetoledo]

Fifth Third ready to move into SeaGate

By MARK REITER
BLADE BUSINESS WRITER


The move of Fifth Third Bank into its new digs at the 32-story glass tower on Summit Street will begin this weekend.

About 80 employees who will begin work Monday on the 22nd floor of the former world headquarters of Owens-Illinois Inc. were packing yesterday to have boxes ready for movers, said Karen Fraker, vice president of marketing for Fifth Third.

The first phase in transferring banking operations into what is to be called Fifth Third Center at One SeaGate involves employees in the banking and mortgage division in the bank's
17-story office building at Madison Avenue and Huron Street and the investment advisory group at a facility it owns on Monroe Street in Sylvania Township.

When the move is finished in early December, about 300 employees will be in 110,000 square feet of office space on four floors of the glass-and-steel structure.

The century-old building at Madison and Huron has been the headquarters for Fifth Third's northwest Ohio region and its predecessors since 1931. A bank branch on the first floor of the building will remain.

The bank is looking for buyers for the 5520 Monroe St. site, although the bank branch and investment staff will stay at that location.

The bank opened a branch on the first floor of the One SeaGate building this month. The first of four signs that will adorn the top of the building have been installed. The remaining signs will be installed next month.

Considered downtown's premier office spot, it was the home for 25 years of glass-maker Owens-Illinois, which moved from the downtown for new headquarters in Perrysburg.

The 800,000-square-foot structure was sold in August for $40 million to New York-based Amtrust Realty Corp., an investment group that has gained a reputation for turning around underperforming properties. The new owner has retained CB Richard Ellis/Reichle Klein to market the site.

The addition of the Fifth Third office staff will increase the building's occupancy to 50 percent, said Jeremy Miller, a real estate agent for the Maumee firm.

The Collaborative Inc., a Toledo architectural firm, has been hired by Amtrust Realty to redesign the sublevel of the building, he said.

[Pilliod Njaim]

^Collaborative Inc. is an amazing company. They've done lots of work at Ohio University, and I've been very impressed. They're top of their game in Ohio.

[toledo25]

Here are several things that we need downtown:

1) Video Store (Blockbuster) that is open until midnight 7 days a week
2) Book Store (Books-A-Million or Borders) that is open until 11pm 7 days a week
3) Coffeehouse (Starbuck's or Caribou Coffee) that is open until midnight 7 days a week
4) Scrambler's Marie that is open 7 days a week
5) FedEx Kinko's 24/7
6) Walgreen's with Pharmacy 24/7
7) Radio Shack that is open 6-7 days a week
8) Panera Bread that is open 7 days a week until 11pm
9) Full-scale grocery store to occupy the former Superior Antique at Erie Street Market that is open open 7 days a week
10) A second shop of Wixey Bakery open 5-6 days a week
11) Chipolte that is open 7 days a week until midnight
12) Meats & More open 5-6 days a week
13) GNC store open 5-6 days a week
14) Monnette's Produce Market open 7 days a week
15) Hardware Store (either ACE or True Value) open 7 days a week
16) Ben Franklin Store open 7 days a week
17) Veternarian clinic with boarding & grooming open 5-6 days a week

and last but not least,

17) Fitness Center with sauna open 7 days a week until midnight

I AGREE 100% If those things existed downtown my partner and I would have bought a space downtown instead of West Toledo, but we love our house now so getting us to sell and move to downtown might not work hehe :)

[ilovetoledo]

Here are some ideas for a better downtown:
I was thinking a better welcoming section into downtown from the AW trail. Better than a billboard. Possibly a wall and on it "Welcome to Downtown Toledo" an a fountain in front. I was thinking close to the shoreline by the downtown side of the river we could have lights in the water shineing up on the sky line. How cool would that look haveing lights shine out of the water or maybe a fountain in front of downtown with lights at night shineing on it?? New streetscape lights. Maumee in their downtown have their own type of lights that set downtown Maumee apart from the city. If anyway needs to be fixed it would be the AW trail comming into downtown. I think they should fix this because this is considered the red carpet leading into downtown. Who wants a rough ride on the way there. Does anyone know what is going on with the triangle building upon entrance into downtown from the trail or the steam plant--why is this taking so long?

[Pilliod Njaim]

^Triangle Building was recently purchased and is to be converted into lofts. I met the new owner last spring and he told me about the project. That is one of the coolest warehouses the world over, and it will be a jewel again.

I'm not sure about the Steam Plant progress. Bonjour probably knows more about that.

[nickw311]

what all does the triangle building entail? there is that other warehouse that is connected to the bartley lofts between the triangle building. Will that also be renovated? It won't look great if there is an abandoned building between the two.

[Pilliod Njaim]

^You're talking about Commerce Paper. I don't think that building is abandoned. There are actually still a good number of active warehouses in the Warehouse District. I think Commerce Paper is one of them:

http://www.commercepaper.com/index.html

[Bonjourtoledo]

Here are some ideas for a better downtown:
I was thinking a better welcoming section into downtown from the AW trail. Better than a billboard. Possibly a wall and on it "Welcome to Downtown Toledo" an a fountain in front. I was thinking close to the shoreline by the downtown side of the river we could have lights in the water shineing up on the sky line. How cool would that look haveing lights shine out of the water or maybe a fountain in front of downtown with lights at night shineing on it?? New streetscape lights. Maumee in their downtown have their own type of lights that set downtown Maumee apart from the city. If anyway needs to be fixed it would be the AW trail comming into downtown. I think they should fix this because this is considered the red carpet leading into downtown. Who wants a rough ride on the way there. Does anyone know what is going on with the triangle building upon entrance into downtown from the trail or the steam plant--why is this taking so long?


In terms of AW trail leading into downtown, here is the link to this active, long-term project where they focus on gateways: http://acgt.org/artnet/index.html

Triangle Building has been sold to a Lansing developer that specializes in rehabbing and renovating into lofts. They bought the building this past late summer and plans to have market-rate apartments. They have been cleaning and clearing out the inside of the building for the past couple of months, I think they are in the process of architectural drafting and working with the city planning and inspections for approval to begin the project.

The Steam Plant is to begin this coming spring, in the last couple of years the developers had to work around the State Historic Preservation board to get all approvals in all work scopes of this project because the building is declared historic. They had a numerous of set-back due to red-tapes and bureaucrats, so the project is still on line to begin after this winter.

[Bonjourtoledo]

what all does the triangle building entail? there is that other warehouse that is connected to the bartley lofts between the triangle building. Will that also be renovated? It won't look great if there is an abandoned building between the two.

Pilliod is correct, many of the warehouses are still used and active and you will find very minimal vacant warehouses. The two empty warehouses (within the Warehouse District) that I can think of is one in between Chariot Foods and Swan Creek distribution and the other is at the corner of Erie and Market. IMO, they are great finds with good location and has an architectural edge which makes it great to redevelop.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[ilovetoledo]

Bonjour, when is this "gateway" going to start. On the website it say 2007 but 2007 is ending quickly and i havent heard or seen anything around this topic. Do you remember when the designs were up for voting. Do you remember why we picked the one that we did? Also, the triangle building just looks like its sitting there. I think that that building is key to downtown because thats the first thing you see when you enter. Is there any specific timeline for this project the start or end date?

[toledo25]

Since we are already jumping on the "Green" bandwagon with the Ethanol plant, Green Stadium and other projects...

Why not "Re-Light" Toledo with LED lights (Ann Arbor recently announced this as well) and save us a few hundred thousand dollars in electric bills and energy costs!? That is one way to help "trim" our city's budget.

Also... I never really understood this, but why dont we have a renewable energy plant that focuses on using the WATER?!!? We have s&it tons of it and it sure could power a LOT of this area in a clean and be "green" for us as well.

Would be cool to like in one of the Top 10 "Greenest Cities"

P.s. Construction has begun @ the old DeVeaux village on the CedarCreek Church building. I am hoping someone finally buys/renovates the foodtown store into something that makes sense for this nice quiet neighborhood.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Bonjour, when is this "gateway" going to start. On the website it say 2007 but 2007 is ending quickly and i havent heard or seen anything around this topic. Do you remember when the designs were up for voting. Do you remember why we picked the one that we did? Also, the triangle building just looks like its sitting there. I think that that building is key to downtown because thats the first thing you see when you enter. Is there any specific timeline for this project the start or end date?

It's a matter of fund-raising and grants availability to be able to carry out the entire project of the gateway initiatives. Arts Commission and Bowling Green State University is taking the lead in this project and somehow it will be interwined with the 2009-2010 ODOT project to widened and reconstruct the Anthony Wayne Trail & I-75 interchange.

The Triangle building has just begun in terms of purchasing and getting architectures, construction teams, required permits, planning process, etc, etc in line....a lot things take time especially with the size of the building which is seven floors high. We must be patient when it comes to redeveloping old warehouses and buildings because it is a lot of work and on the flip side of the developmenet it is much easier to build something new and get it up within months.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Since we are already jumping on the "Green" bandwagon with the Ethanol plant, Green Stadium and other projects...

Why not "Re-Light" Toledo with LED lights (Ann Arbor recently announced this as well) and save us a few hundred thousand dollars in electric bills and energy costs!? That is one way to help "trim" our city's budget.

Also... I never really understood this, but why dont we have a renewable energy plant that focuses on using the WATER?!!? We have s&it tons of it and it sure could power a LOT of this area in a clean and be "green" for us as well.

Would be cool to like in one of the Top 10 "Greenest Cities"

P.s. Construction has begun @ the old DeVeaux village on the CedarCreek Church building. I am hoping someone finally buys/renovates the foodtown store into something that makes sense for this nice quiet neighborhood.

The streetlights are maintained by Toledo Edison (First Energy), so perhaps the city of Toledo and First Energy needs to come up with something in terms of what A2 is doing.

I agree with your position on using water for energy and other green potential projects.

I would love to see the vacant Food Town Plus store be taken over by another grocery store (perhaps Churchill's need a bigger space compared to their Central Avenue location). Nice to hear things are progressing over at DeVeaux. Keep us posted.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Manor Care to remain in Toledo, governor told
Posted on Toledo Blade website November 3, 2007

COLUMBUS - Gov. Ted Strickland yesterday said he received assurances in a Washington meeting with the co-founder and managing director of the Carlyle Group that the private equity firm will keep its corporate headquarters in Toledo when it takes over Manor Care Inc.

"They assured that they are absolutely committed to the highest quality of care and services to the people served by Manor Care," he said.

Carlyle expected to complete its $6.3 billion takeover of Manor Care within 30 days. The Toledo firm leases its headquarters at 333 N. Summit St. from the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Small amount of lead found at new arena site
By JOE VARDON BLADE STAFF WRITER


If you happen to see workers in downtown Toledo wearing anti-contamination suits next week, the Lucas County commissioners don’t want you to be alarmed.

County officials said yesterday a small amount of lead was found in the soil at the construction site for the new multipurpose arena, and workers from TTL Associates Inc. could be on site as early as Monday to remove it.

Joe Zunk, superintendent of Lathrop Co., the Maumee firm designated as the arena’s project manager, said a tiny sample of contaminated soil was taken near Jefferson Avenue and Superior Street.

Mr. Zunk said of the 50,000 yards of soil, brick, and other materials to be excavated from the site, initial tests indicate about 1 percent of it is contaminated.

He said more tests are needed to determine how much of the land contains dangerous levels of lead, but he’s confident the amount is small.

“Is it 500 yards? Is it 100 yards? Or is it 1,000 yards? We don’t really know yet,” Mr. Zunk said. “But we’re confident that it’s minimal. We’re just being cautious right now for the people who work [at the site] and those who work around it.”

County Administrator Mike Beazley said the commissioners and the arena’s design team anticipated some contaminated soil would be found.

Mr. Beazley said the lead discovery will not affect the budget or the building’s construction timeline.

“When you do a construction project, the possibility is there to run into something like this,” Mr. Beazley said.

The site for the arena, which is bound by Madison and Jefferson avenues and Huron Street and spills onto a former portion of Superior, was the location of seven old buildings that recently were demolished.

They were Club Bijou, Golden Lily restaurant, and a vacant building on Superior, the Libbey Glass showroom and two other vacant structures on Huron, and Subway on Jefferson.

Mr. Zunk said there was no way to know how the soil became contaminated.
He said the potential for contamination was first discovered last spring, and lead was confirmed through tests conducted by TTL Associates last week.

David Mann, a spokesman for the county, said the TTL employees who remove the contaminated soil likely will wear remediation suits, even though lead is not an airborne contaminant.

The arena is expected to cost between $80 million and $105 million and is slated to open in the fall of 2009.

Workers are in the process of digging a hole 12 feet deep and backfilling it with material to build the arena’s foundation.

[nickw311]

This is unrelated to development news but it is humorous, and the Mud Hens were mentioned in the National News:


TOLEDO, Ohio -- Alex Rodriguez a Mud Hen?

Spurred by an offhand remark from George Steinbrenner's son, the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens want in on the A-Rod sweepstakes.

The Mud Hens playfully offered the prize free agent a deal Thursday -- a contract proposal that includes a bonus for hitting 75 home runs next year and leading them to 10 straight International League titles.

Rodriguez recently opted out of his $252 million, 10-year contract with the New York Yankees. That prompted Hank Steinbrenner, son of the Yankees owner, to tell the New York Times: "Does he want to go into the Hall of Fame as a Yankee, or a Toledo Mud Hen?"

The Mud Hens conjured up an offer to find out, said Jason Griffin, a spokesman for the Detroit Tigers' top farm team.

Toledo created a Hall of Fame plaque of Rodriguez wearing a Mud Hens hat and sent a letter to his agent, Scott Boras.

The deal stipulates that Rodriguez will have to compete for a spot with Toledo third basemen Mike Hessman, the league's most valuable player last season.

"Would your client be willing to play a different position?" the letter asked.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3090231

[ilovetoledo]

How many people on here are going to vote for the Cosi Levy tomorrow at the polls?
If not, why?

[Mudhen419]

I wonder how many more seats they would have to add at fifth third if we actually got A-Rod.... And while we're on the hens..... Will the fifth third signs at the field change to the new green and blue? I hope not i think the red and black match the stadium and mudhens colors well.... Im voting for COSI

[ilovetoledo]

November 5, 2007 - TALLMADGE, Ohio (AP) - Under a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program, cities in Ohio may buy unsold foreclosed homes for $1 each.

Related Links
Information from: Akron Beacon Journal
Through the program, any foreclosed home that HUD has unsuccessfully listed for sale for longer than six months is available for city purchase.
The city of Tallmadge, in suburban Akron, is hoping to buyat least one house as part of their efforts against the rising tide of abandoned homes in the city.

HUD advertises the Dollar Homes program as a way for communities to repair empty houses and resell them to help revitalize neighborhoods, but Tallmadge has a different plan.

City officials say they likely will tear down the house, sell the land and put the sale proceeds into the city's historic preservation programs

[Pilliod Njaim]

^well, Toledo won't get A-Rod, that's for sure. The offer was meant as a joke and a way to bring national publicity to the Mud Hens and Toledo. I'm glad they did it, because all the national media outlets picked it up. It just adds to the Mud Hens popularity. They are the most recognized of any minor league sports franchise (thank you "MASH"), so that's probably why the Yankees brought them up in the first place. It's always cool to see the Mud Hens and Toledo in a national news story.

[ilovetoledo]

I'm sure this will do good for Toledo with all of our forclosed houses here in the city... Revitalization is key in this new project.

[ilovetoledo]

Mayor Carty Finkbeiner speaks during a news conference yesterday to unveil the Downtown Windows Public Art Project, which is designed to increase art in public
places in downtown Toledo. The first public artwork is at the Madison Building, behind the mayor, at Madison Avenue and Huron Street. The project is funded through the city’s One Percent for the Arts program and has as its ultimate goal to have art that has been produced by local artists on display in windows throughout downtown Toledo.

[ilovetoledo]

By JENNI LAIDMAN
BLADE STAFF WRITER


The Toledo Botanical Garden may add a conference center and banquet facilities as a way to help support the 60 acres of gardens on the park's south side, the organization's leader said.

A master plan to be unveiled for public comment at the end of the month includes not only those additions, but new plantings that enhance the botanical garden's successful features, said Janet Schroeder, executive director since 2005.

"We are trying to elevate this entire facility, the entire programming. We want to be a world-class botanical garden, so everything we do we are thinking quality," Ms. Schroeder said.

The garden - affiliated with Metroparks of the Toledo Area since last year - began soliciting public comment about the facility's future in January, Ms. Schroeder said.


New brick walkways connect with the bridge at the Toledo Botanical Garden, which also has new lighting.

The answers, solicited from Toledo Botanical Garden members as well as people who filled out questionnaires at garden events, indicated that people wanted the park to continue to be a leafy green refuge, as well as continue to work with the arts.

Melissa Shaner, spokesman for the botanical garden, said officials plan to break ground for a new children's garden next year as part of that mission.

About half the money for a children's garden has been raised, Ms. Schroeder said.

In addition, the master plan includes a new visitor's center and a conservatory - a sort of year-round greenhouse. "This will allow visitors in all kinds of weather to enjoy the restorative power of plants and fragrances," Ms. Schroeder said.

What Ms. Schroeder calls the "world class" herb and shade gardens would become the foundations for garden expansion. Plans include changes in paths and landscaping to draw visitors through the park's many gardens.


Improvements at the Toledo Botanical Garden include a new walkway to the gazebo and construction of a stage as well as new plantings to make the park more cohesive.

"We've had certain areas of strength on this site, but they've not been actually linked very well. They've been kind of little islands out here on the 60 acres," Ms. Schroeder said.

The botanical garden long has been associated with the arts, not only via the many sculptures on the property, but also as host to the annual Crosby Festival of the Arts.

It is also home to a 10-building "Artist Village," which will be enhanced with more plantings, more demonstration areas, and even water features under the master plan.

"Currently, it's not cohesive," Ms. Schroeder said. "We want it looking more like a village green, with pedestrian-friendly pathways, and getting the parking out from the area."

There are also plans for a "Learning Village," near Hawkins Elementary School, near the garden's Bancroft Road entrance.

The learning village would include classrooms, little greenhouses for children, and perhaps a library. This year, some 6,200 children participated in Toledo Botanical Garden's education programs, representing major growth in education efforts over the past two years.

The Toledo Botanical Garden is largely self-supporting. Admission to the garden is free, but special-event fees, rental income, membership dues, donations, and grants provide nearly 60 percent of the facility's $1.5 million in revenue.

The remainder comes from in-kind services from the city of Toledo, such as the provision of utilities, and via Metroparks funding.

The garden last week celebrated some major sprucing up, which included new lighting, the new Bancroft Road entry, and the installation of a new pedestrian bridge near the conference center. That $350,000 project represented the efforts of The Andersons Fund, the city, Metroparks, the Stranahan Foundation, the Toledo Community Foundation, and Toledo Edison.

The botanical garden hired Mesa Design Group, a landscape design firm out of Texas, to create the master plan. The $115,000 price tag for planning was paid for via private donations.

The master plan will be presented to the public from 4 to 7 p.m. Nov. 28 at the garden's Conference Center.

[ilovetoledo]

good bye cosi...

[toledo25]

Very sad news about COSi. :( I hope they find private investors to contribute/donate the money *ahem*katieholmes*ahem* maybe larry dillin will pony up an investment/donation to save this place from closing it's doors.

However i think why this didnt pass is they do not reach out to Toledo Public shools at all, so parents/kids don't know the importance if they havent gone. Kids that age need to be inspired by science in order to get interested in it and pursue it as they get older, between the ages of like 7-12 if they arent inspired by science they typically won't explore it in the future.

[Pilliod Njaim]

I think it didn't pass because of its limited appeal. It's not like the metroparks or library where there is a good mix of age groups. COSI is mainly kids, and parents with kids (sort of the reason some people don't vote for schools). And Ohioans already have the highest tax burdens in the country. If I were in Toledo, though, I would have voted for it.

COSI Columbus has similar financial problems, though they haven't threatened to shut down yet.

Kids that age need to be inspired by science in order to get interested in it and pursue it as they get older, between the ages of like 7-12 if they arent inspired by science they typically won't explore it in the future.

I agree early exposure is important, plus COSI does bring in tourists and schools far away from Toledo. It helps downtown establishments in general.

[nickw311]

Pilliod, where did you get the statistic about Ohians being the highest taxed people in the nation? I'm not questioning you but I have not heard that before.

[ddp]

Here is/was the problem with COSI:

- private 501 (c)(3) organization (tax-exempt)
- $1 rent per month (courtesy of the City of Toledo, which I don't have an issue with per se)
- Deferred and/or fully-subsidized utility fees (again, no big issue here)

Now, if I ran my business on this business model, and still had to ask property owners to subsidize my operation, I think most would suspect poor business management skills on my part -- that, or one heck of a poorly drafted, overly-ambitious business plan.

I'm saddened that COSI will be leaving downtown Toledo. The city needs destinations such as COSI, jsut like the cit of Baltimore needs its Inner Harbor Aquarium. But, at some point, when do we say, "Tourist destination: Great! Not able to make a profit, despite a significantly subsidized operating budget: Bad."

Maybe the Mud Hens operation should take it over. They seem to know what they're doing in terms of operating a destination, and making a profit -- all without operating levies.

Geez. Operate within your means, COSI. Remove half the exhibits, humbly start over with a new business plan, and slowly but surely work in the black, without expanding to the point where you place yourself in the red. How logical.

That $12 million they spent for build-out should have been $6 million, with the other 6 put away for gloomy days such as the one Toledo is seeing right now.

Simple business admin 101, I tell ya. The Board should be embarrassed that it's come to this.

Just my opinion. Sorry this post is slightly of-topic. I want COSI to survive, but not unless it's able to be profitable on its own. Let's hope for better management of the Arena and Marina District.

[cjfjapan]

Pilliod, where did you get the statistic about Ohians being the highest taxed people in the nation? I'm not questioning you but I have not heard that before.


According to the Tax Foundation, Ohio has the 5th highest State/Local tax burden; Ohio falls to 18th when federal taxes are included.

http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/335.html

[Bonjourtoledo]

I am alive after a long week of campaigning for one of the levies (not COSi). I am disappointed that COSi did not pass, but however, I do believe if one door closes another door will open.

[Bonjourtoledo]

I am so stoked to see this news especially knowing that an arena football team will be coming and I will be definetly going perhaps a season-tickets holder. I am huge football fan in general (Go Rockets!) and I cannot wait for Toledo to have an arena football team. Go Peckers!

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

$100M Titan Tire expansion includes facility and equipment
Posted on Toledo Business Journal website November Edition

Bryan firm is third in the world to manufacture 63-inch tire

Titan International Inc. plans to increase its mining tire production capacity to include 57-inch and 63-inch giant radial tires at its Bryan, Ohio Titan Tire Corporation facility; the tires will weigh up to 12,000 pounds and be used primarily in the mining industry.

“All the major mining companies around the world are interested in these tires,” stated Keith Tarnovich, Titan Tire controller. “There is a shortage.”

In August 2006, Titan Tire Corporation of Bryan acquired the off-the-road (OTR) tire assets of Bryan’s Continental Tire North America, Inc. According to the company, the acquisition expanded Titan's product offering into larger earthmoving, construction, and mining tires; it also increased the manufacturing capacity of the Bryan facility.

The new bay building will be approximately 220,000 square feet. Internal Titan funding for the project is expected to allow the firm to produce up to an estimated 6,000 giant radial tires per year.

“We are very excited about this newest venture [because] there are only two manufacturers in the world that produce 63-inch radial tires – Michelin and Bridgestone,” added Titan chairman and CEO Maurice M. Taylor, Jr. “This is what it’s all about; a small American company going up against two powerhouse foreign companies, one French the other Japanese.”

According to Tarnovich, the new tire line is designed to meet worldwide demand for a rare product.

“This is a complement to our existing product line,” he stated. “It’s just an extension of the product line that we already manufacture here.”

“The plant that we have here now is quite good and has done well for [Titan],” Bryan Mayor Doug Johnson added.

The estimated $100 million project includes $15 million for the new building and $85 million for new machinery and equipment. Sterling Management, Co. is the general contractor. Titan expects to add approximately 125 to 150 new jobs to the company’s existing staff of 350.

Titan is financing the project by itself, but the City of Bryan will give it a Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) on tax exemption once it is up and running for a period of time.

“When you add that many more people, it gives jobs to [help lower the] unemployment rate,” explained Johnson. “With Menards coming in at the turnpike and with Titan Tire, a lot of jobs will certainly be filled. There are a lot of homes on the market all over [Williams] County that [the projects] will help to sell as these people locate here.”

“Titan has assembled a great team, and we believe that we have a better way to produce these giant tires.” Taylor added. “We believe radial tires perform better on 15-degree wheels, which is what cars and trucks now utilize. Titan has developed these wheels, and we plan to produce our new tires on a 72.5-inch, 15-degree wheel at the same time as we produce 63-inch radial tires.”

The ability to produce 6,000 giant radial tires may increase sales as much as $240 million, according to Titan; the tires are expected to be higher margin products for the company. Titan expects to produce its first 63-inch radial tire in the first quarter of 2008 and be in start-up production by the end of the second quarter.

“There’s still a lot of testing that has to go on, and we don’t know the exact schedule yet,” Tarnovich explained.

According to the company, its internal funding will also allow Titan to build the world’s largest 24-foot bull wheel, a specialized wheel used to test tires. The bull wheel will have the capacity to load tires up to 300,000 pounds and run tires up to 42 miles per hour.

Titan Tire Corporation, a subsidiary of Titan International, Inc., is a manufacturer of off-highway tires. Titan Tire has two other tire manufacturing facilities and two wheel manufacturing facilities in the United States. Its tire production facilities are located in Bryan, Ohio; Freeport, Illinois; and Des Moines, Iowa. The Iowa facility also serves as the headquarters for the tire group.

Some of Titan’s customers include John Deere, AGCO, New Holland, and Shoreland. Additionally, Titan has a network of 1,700 independent tire dealers that service the aftermarket.

Titan plants are equipped to produce tires in sizes ranging in wheel diameter from six to 42 inches, according to the company. Applications include agricultural, construction, industrial, and all-terrain vehicles.

[Bonjourtoledo]

St. Joseph Parish plans $20M Monclova project
Posted on Toledo Business Journal website November Edition

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/StJoeNewChurch11-2007.jpg

The Diocese of Toledo has purchased approximately 57 acres of land on the north side of Stitt Road in Monclova, Ohio; the land was purchased from Stitt Road Investors, LLC. St. Joseph Parish plans to use 37 acres of this lot for its new $20 million campus, which is expected to break ground late 2008. The Diocese will use the rest of the land for a separate project.

“We’ve had the site for over a year now,” stated Father Frank Murd, St. Joseph pastor. “The purpose is to build a new church, a new community center, and a new school. It will also have parking and athletic fields in the back. [They will be] practice fields, not competition fields.”

According to Murd, the existing St. Joseph church will remain in Maumee and will continue to be used for masses, weddings, and funerals. The community center will also be used for parish and community activities. The school and office building will eventually be leveled.

“The plan is that we’re going to build this in phases,” Murd added. “The first phase is part of the school; it will be [a building for] pre-school through 4th grade. So, the [existing] church is going to be very much used, and the school is going to continue to be used as well as the community center.”

The overall project will include four stages and will likely take more than ten years to complete. According to Murd, the project is expected to cost just under $20 million. As he discussed, Phase I will include a school for the preschool through 4th grade students as well as a cafeteria / multi-purpose room. Completion of the $4.8 million phase is expected approximately 12 to 14 months from the time of the groundbreaking.

For now, students in grades 5 through 8 will remain at the present site. Phase II of the new campus, to cost slightly less than Phase I, will include a school for those students and a gymnasium. Phase III will be a new community center and Phase IV will be a new church.

“The reason we wanted to build out in [Monclova] is that 60% of our congregation comes from that area,” Murd stated. “It’s also one of the fastest growing areas in greater Toledo. So, it’s a place where things are happening as far as buildings and families moving in that area. If we look at parish boundaries, [the new campus] is actually in the center… It’s exactly five miles from our front door to the new site.”

The construction manager for the project is Bostleman Corporation. SSOE, Inc. is the architect and The Lathrop Company is the construction manager in charge of leveling parts of the existing site, refurbishing the existing church, and doing landscape work on the property.

Following a directive from Bishop Leonard Blair, Murd formed a steering committee to develop plans for the new campus. The committee aimed to gather input from parishioners and to hold public meetings to keep the parish informed about the process. Those meetings were held in late 2005 and early 2006. The steering committee also worked with SSOE to develop an initial campus plan based on parish need and parishioner input.

According to Murd, the parish has been working with Lucas County and Monclova Township for the project as well. “I’m very proud of the people we worked with,” he stated. “The County and the Township were extremely cooperative.”

Murd added, “As far as the design, we wanted something that wasn’t extremely modern and wouldn’t go out of style within the next few years. We wanted something that would be more traditional…something that would be simple yet very elegant. The design that was chosen is a mission style… From the parish meetings, certain things came out loud and clear. [Members of the congregation want] the church to look like a church, not a barn or a gymnasium. We certainly have tried to fulfill that [request] with our designs.”

St. Joseph’s current staff of teachers plans to move to the new school once it is completed. Murd also expects an influx of students as a result of the project, which will create a need for additional staff.

“That’s a good problem to have, if you have the space,” he explained. “One of the things that I’ve said all along is that we’re going to be positive, and we’re going to make this a fun project. It’s going to be a long project, and we can’t do it in a year. But, we’re going to have fun doing it.”

[Pilliod Njaim]

Pilliod, where did you get the statistic about Ohians being the highest taxed people in the nation? I'm not questioning you but I have not heard that before.

We've always ranked high in state tax burden. It's nothing new, and it's important to keep in mind that there are a lot of states that rank close to each other at the top. I've heard many Ohioans (Republicans and Democrats) complain about the state tax burden before, but local taxes vary quite a bit within the state. Some are amongst the highest in the nation, others are much lower. I have no idea if Toledo is near the top, bottom, or middle of the list. I don't think that's why COSI failed, though. COSI failed for the three reasons stated before:

- private 501 (c)(3) organization (tax-exempt)
- $1 rent per month (courtesy of the City of Toledo, which I don't have an issue with per se)
- Deferred and/or fully-subsidized utility fees (again, no big issue here)

You can only ask so much of people. COSI, both in Columbus and Toledo, is largely subsidized by the public, and they have a failing business model in both cities. Toledo will close first, and then Columbus within a few years I think. The public is not going to keep handing out money to these things. They have other institutions that need to be taken care of first (libraries, parks, schools, fire/police, etc.). I loved COSI, and it sucks to see it go, but I think they were just asking too much of Toledoans. Most voters knew it was already subsidized by them, so asking for money just wasn't going to fly. Hopefully it will return in the near future with a tighter business plan.

[Pilliod Njaim]

In a few years, area sports fans could be heading to the downtown arena to watch the Walleye play hockey and the Woodpeckers play football.

Awesome! Way to go Toledo! With Mud Hens, Walleye, and Peckers, Toledo will be the king of quirky and original sports names.

[Pilliod Njaim]

St. Joseph Parish plans $20M Monclova project
Posted on Toledo Business Journal website November Edition

This is a HUGE waste of money. St. Joe's in Maumee (not some fancy Sylvania "Joseph") is more than suitable and moving to Anthony Wayne won't help their school enrollment (Anthony Wayne has good public schools). I went to the old school and while it was poorly-ran and gave me a terrible education compared to the public schools, the building was awesome. I can't believe they want to tear it down for some suburban trash in Monclova. This is a travesty and it seems ridiculous for any Catholic Diocese to fund a project like this in the face of declining attendance.

St. Joseph’s current staff of teachers plans to move to the new school once it is completed. Murd also expects an influx of students as a result of the project, which will create a need for additional staff.

They'll lose even more students since Anthony Wayne ranks so high. No one is going to send their kids to a private school when the public ones are superior.

The school and office building will eventually be leveled.

Keep it open. Do CCD, after-school activities, Maumee socials, etc.

[ilovetoledo]

What the heck were they thinking... walleye, peckers. Do you know how much crap we are going to get for these names. I cant wait until the public voices its opinion on the topic because i think they (the people naming) are going to get a big wake-up call...

St. Joes Maumee
They dont need a brand new school they need to fix up their current schools. St. Pats where i attended for grade school needs a new gym floor.

Monclova
I dont really understand the concept of annexing. Could Toledo annex monclova and add the residents?? or would that be called a merger? I know this would never happen but could it? It would be awesome, for Toledo atleast with its declining population

[ilovetoledo]

I think that Ford's idea to keep Cosi open under the TPS schools would benefit in the long run espically for Toledo's need for science and research jobs. If this does need to go into effect then Cosi needs to move out of its current location. Cosi is located in a essential building to downtown Toledo. They should move into one of the abandon warehouses. A riverfront property like that should be open to buisnesses because riverfront properties like that are scarce across the country. Cosi would definatly do better in the abandon warehouse across from fifth third field. Two downtown attractions right next to eachother and also with short walking distance. They need to let a buisness or resturaunt take over that property. Someone with a keen sense of where their future might be headed.

[BGFalcon]

I am not a big fan of the team name Peckers, but I don't mind Walleyes. It will be cool if they get football and hockey.

[Pilliod Njaim]

Could Toledo annex monclova and add the residents?? or would that be called a merger? I know this would never happen but could it?

It won't happen, becuase Toledo is already supplying water to that area. The reason Columbus can still annex suburbs is because they threaten to withold water from new developments. Join Columbus or lose water. Toledo hasn't done this, though it did annex quite a bit of land (40 square miles) between 1950-1970. It stopped by 1970 though, and Toledo hasn't been able to annex anything since. It's probably too late to pull the water card since most of the suitable annex areas are already developed and/or incorporated.

A city-county merger would be more likely (similar to Louisville).

[cjfjapan]

Could Toledo annex monclova and add the residents?? or would that be called a merger? I know this would never happen but could it?

It won't happen, becuase Toledo is already supplying water to that area. The reason Columbus can still annex suburbs is because they threaten to withold water from new developments. Join Columbus or lose water. Toledo hasn't done this, though it did annex quite a bit of land (40 square miles) between 1950-1970. It stopped by 1970 though, and Toledo hasn't been able to annex anything since. It's probably too late to pull the water card since most of the suitable annex areas are already developed and/or incorporated.

A city-county merger would be more likely (similar to Louisville).

Toledo should probably move toward a city-county combination sooner rather than later. For now, the city is still home to about half of the metro area population, if that dips too much, I fear that suburban voters, in their numerical superiority and fear of a chocolate city, would never allow it. Toledo should move in the next decade to merge with Lucas County; Toledo's population would jump to at least 150,000 to about 450K. Toledo would then probably be...Ohio's second largest city, assuming the Cleveland Slide continues.

[ilovetoledo]

So if we do move to a city-county merger then would everything be called Toledo instead of Maumee, waterville, etc.? Would Toledo have say in everything that went on in the old maumee or would the old maumee still have a say? Would maumee police then be called toledo or maumee??

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

So if we do move to a city-county merger then would everything be called Toledo instead of Maumee, waterville, etc.? Would Toledo have say in everything that went on in the old maumee or would the old maumee still have a say? Would maumee police then be called toledo or maumee??

There have been a lot of discussions underway for the past few years about unigov by combining Toledo and Lucas County that will still give the suburbs and townships a position on the unigov level to have fair representation. It's a matter of cutting down duplications and redundancy of services throughout the county and cutting down tax burden, streamlining efficiency, and regional transit system to give the entire county a new level of regionalism. It will be sooner than later for this area to have everyone merge together within Lucas County.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Toledo should probably move toward a city-county combination sooner rather than later. For now, the city is still home to about half of the metro area population, if that dips too much, I fear that suburban voters, in their numerical superiority and fear of a chocolate city, would never allow it. Toledo should move in the next decade to merge with Lucas County; Toledo's population would jump to at least 150,000 to about 450K. Toledo would then probably be...Ohio's second largest city, assuming the Cleveland Slide continues.

Don't be surprised if it happens because it's long overdue. Just look how UT and MUO merged together as one university and how efficient it is one year later.

[ilovetoledo]

No one really answered my question. Will there still be maumee, monclova, waterville, etc. or will it all be toledo?

[Mudhen419]

I read somethin interesting on a Cedar Point website i go to called Guidetothepoint.com about a Marina District in Sandusky at Battery Park. Theres an article about it in the Sandusky register. There calling for 300 residential condominiums, retail space, a hotel and a marina and to revamp battery park area

[Bonjourtoledo]

No one really answered my question. Will there still be maumee, monclova, waterville, etc. or will it all be toledo?

ilovetoledo, I certainly DID TOO answer your question. Now let me copy & paste for you: There have been a lot of discussions underway for the past few years about unigov by combining Toledo and Lucas County that will still give the suburbs and townships a position on the unigov level to have fair representation. It's a matter of cutting down duplications and redundancy of services throughout the county and cutting down tax burden, streamlining efficiency, and regional transit system to give the entire county a new level of regionalism. It will be sooner than later for this area to have everyone merge together within Lucas County. So it might not be a direct answer to your question because it is not that simple to say "all" would be Toledo.

Now as far as Maumee Police being named it will probably be still Maumee as goes for Waterville fire, so on, so on. The only thing it will change would be elected official's representation, city's population, level of funding from federal government, county-wide public transit, city, county, township road and highway department would be merged, city, county, township water/sewer department would be merged, so on, so on. Library, Health Department, Children's services, Planning Offices, etc, etc have already been merged as city-county wide services.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Toledo plant could build transmissions for SUV
November 12, 2007 - TOLEDO, Ohio (AP)
Posted on WTVG 13 ABC website

A General Motors transmission plant could be producing parts for gas-electric hybrid vehicles by 2011, a newspaper reported Saturday.
The plans are included in a new four-year contract the company ratified with the United Auto Workers last month, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported. The contract calls for the plant to begin making the "Gen II Hybrid" rear-wheel-drive transmission by 2011 or 2012, the newspaper said.

GM will begin selling next month is first generation of the system - several models of full-sized sport utility vehicles for the 2008 model year.

GM spokesman Tom Read would not comment on details of the company's product plans but confirmed that GM has only one rear-wheel-drive hybrid system in the works that could reach a second generation by 2011. A message seeking comment was left at UAW Local 14 in Toledo on Saturday.

GM plans to begin making the first of its truck hybrids in the Chevrolet Tahoe next month. GM has said the vehicle will get about 22 miles per gallon, a 30 percent increase over the gas-only version. The same system will show up on the Cadillac Escalade and several other GM SUVs.

The company plans to launch a similar system for cars next year.

GM calls the system a "two-mode" hybrid because the vehicles operate on electricity alone at low speeds, and electricity boosts power output at high speeds.

On the big vehicles, GM has coupled the hybrid with advanced engine advancement such as displacement on demand, a system that shuts down four cylinders of a V-8 engine at highway speeds when it doesn't need as much power.

Adding such a system to Toledo would be the latest commitment GM has made to the plant, which employs 3,400. In two separate announcements earlier this year, GM outlined plans to spend $832 million to upgrade portions of the plant.

The upgrades will allow GM to produce six-speed truck transmissions next year and six-speed car transmissions by 2010.

Moving to six-speed systems for the current four-speed models could boost miles per gallon by about 10 percent, GM officials said in announcing the plans.

In addition to the hybrid systems, the UAW contract says Toledo should get another new product in 2012 - a racing-inspired transmission for the next version of the Corvette.


(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[Bonjourtoledo]

Now with COSi on it's way out by end of this year as they depart the 100,000 square foot Portside Marketplace facility. It's time to restore the marketplace into a shopping mall that would cater to downtown, central city residents, and out-of-towners. This will pump in new jobs, tax revenue, and economy into the downtown area as the new arena opens in fall of 2009 and the large-scale development of the Marina District.

You have the Crowne Plaza Hotel that will undergo a $6+ million makeover, the One Seagate Tower attracting new tenants after Fifth Third Bank is relocating in the tower, HCR Manor Care is committed in staying in Toledo, and the Water Street Steam Plant converting into market-rate housing which is all around the Portside Marketplace. Keep in mind, the Portside is connected through the CitiWalk (underground "city") to Seagate Convention Centre, One Seagate Tower ground level promenade, Crowne Plaza Hotel, ample of parking garages, and Key Bank which should be popular with pedestrians especially during rainy and snowy days.

Here are some of the retails/restaurants that I've mentioned before about what is needed for downtown and it would be perfect for Portside:
1) Game Stop Store
2) Books-A-Million or Borders Book Store
3) Starbuck's Coffee
4) Scrambler's Marie Cafe
5) FedEx Kinko's
6) Walgreen's with Pharmacy
7) Radio Shack
8) Panera Bread
9) Cinnabon
10) Chipolte
11) GNC store
12) Ben Franklin Store
13) Steve & Barry's University Sportswear
14) Caribou Coffee
15) Chico's
16) Bath & Body Works
17) Victoria's Secret Beauty
18) Hallmark's Store
19) Apple Computer Store
20) Dakota Watchworks
21) Sunglass Hut
22) Osterman Jewelers
23) LensCrafters
24) Auntie Anne’s Pretzels
25) Great Steak & Potato Co.
26) Jamba Juice
27) Einstein Bros. Bagels
28) Pinkberry
29) Eddie Bauer
30) Eddie Bauer Home Store
31) Aveda Environmental Lifestyle Store
32) Chick-fil-A
33) Crabtree & Evelyn
34) Nordstrom Rack
35) The Andersons Market
36) UT Rockets Store
37) Cheesecake Factory Restaurant

Portside Marketplace with the shining blue roof:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/PortsideMarketplace.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/COSi.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/COSi2.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/Riverfront2.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/lookingdowneastatcherrystreet3.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/aerial_lg.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/seagatetowerswithboat3sw.jpg
HCR Manor (across the street from Portside Marketplace):
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/SummitPlace.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/oiandhcrtowers0iz.jpg

Key Bank (south side of Portside):
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/KeyBank.jpg

Water Street Steam Plant (south side of Portside):
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/WaterStreetSteamPlant2.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/downtown2.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/steamplant.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/WaterStreetStation12-11-2006.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/elevation-west.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/elevation-north-south-update.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/elevation-east-update.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/elevation-courtyard.jpg

Soon-to-be Crowne Plaza Hotel which is connected to Portsideon the north:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/WyndhamHotel.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/CrownePlazaLogo3-15-2007.jpg

One Seagate Tower (largest structure that is connected to Portside):
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/OneSeagateTower.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/O-Itower.jpg

[Pilliod Njaim]

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/O-Itower.jpg

Something is off about this picture. Clearly, this was taken from across the river since Disalle Government Center (330 feet tall) is completely dwarfed by One Seagate (440 feet tall). The 14-story hotel (taller than whatever is being built in this picture) is to the left of One Seagate, not the right. What are they building to the right of One Seagate in this picture? Did they just flip the picture? Was something being torn down? I don't remember any buildings between One Seagate and Cherry Street for as long as I can remember (that section of Cherry Street was sadly leveled/"urban renewed" in the 60's and 70's). The area where those cranes are is an atrium/park for the tower, not a mid-rise like in this picture. I'm assuming it's a demolition, but I can't remember anything being torn down there after One Seagate was built. I'm baffled.

As this picture clearly shows, there's nothing between One Seagate and Cherry Street other than the tower's two-story atrium which is blocked by the trees.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/Riverfront2.jpg

[Bonjourtoledo]

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/O-Itower.jpg

Something is off about this picture. Clearly, this was taken from across the river since Disalle Government Center (330 feet tall) is completely dwarfed by One Seagate (440 feet tall). The 14-story hotel (taller than whatever is being built in this picture) is to the left of One Seagate, not the right. What are they building to the right of One Seagate in this picture? Did they just flip the picture? Was something being torn down? I don't remember any buildings between One Seagate and Cherry Street for as long as I can remember (that section of Cherry Street was sadly leveled/"urban renewed" in the 60's and 70's). The area where those cranes are is an atrium/park for the tower, not a mid-rise like in this picture. I'm assuming it's a demolition, but I can't remember anything being torn down there after One Seagate was built. I'm baffled.

As this picture clearly shows, there's nothing between One Seagate and Cherry Street other than the tower's two-story atrium which is blocked by the trees.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/Riverfront2.jpg


That is quite interesting that you pointed it out and I never thought of it, I think I can came up with three structures that I believe it may be in construction during the early 80s (if I were to judge on the distortment of the photo).

1) Vistula Parking Garage

or

2) The Madonna Homes

or

3) Maritime Plaza

or something was about to be built but never came to a finish. Sounds like a great research project.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[cjfjapan]

Now with COSi on it's way out by end of this year as they depart the 100,000 square foot Portside Marketplace facility. It's time to restore the marketplace into a shopping mall that would cater to downtown, central city residents, and out-of-towners. This will pump in new jobs, tax revenue, and economy into the downtown area as the new arena opens in fall of 2009 and the large-scale development of the Marina District.

You have the Crowne Plaza Hotel that will undergo a $6+ million makeover, the One Seagate Tower attracting new tenants after Fifth Third Bank is relocating in the tower, HCR Manor Care is committed in staying in Toledo, and the Water Street Steam Plant converting into market-rate housing which is all around the Portside Marketplace. Keep in mind, the Portside is connected through the CitiWalk (underground "city") to Seagate Convention Centre, One Seagate Tower ground level promenade, Crowne Plaza Hotel, ample of parking garages, and Key Bank which should be popular with pedestrians especially during rainy and snowy days.

Here are some of the retails/restaurants that I've mentioned before about what is needed for downtown and it would be perfect for Portside:
1) Game Stop Store
2) Books-A-Million or Borders Book Store
3) Starbuck's Coffee


I think the days of Portside as a commercial center were over before they began. Downtown is an event destination, not a shopping destination. Plus, most of the stores you named can also be found at other malls in the area - why drive five miles out of your way to pay to park to shop at the same old stores? An Apple Store, Trader Joe's, etc might draw some people, but why should those stores locate in an office district surrounded by low-income neighborhoods, rather than around Franklin Park? It would be a bad business decision. The city should, as it is, focus first on residential construction in downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods, and the retail will eventually follow.

[b1gh0u5e]

I think the days of Portside as a commercial center were over before they began. Downtown is an event destination, not a shopping destination. Plus, most of the stores you named can also be found at other malls in the area - why drive five miles out of your way to pay to park to shop at the same old stores? An Apple Store, Trader Joe's, etc might draw some people, but why should those stores locate in an office district surrounded by low-income neighborhoods, rather than around Franklin Park? It would be a bad business decision. The city should, as it is, focus first on residential construction in downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods, and the retail will eventually follow.

AMEN!

[Bonjourtoledo]

I think the days of Portside as a commercial center were over before they began. Downtown is an event destination, not a shopping destination. Plus, most of the stores you named can also be found at other malls in the area - why drive five miles out of your way to pay to park to shop at the same old stores? An Apple Store, Trader Joe's, etc might draw some people, but why should those stores locate in an office district surrounded by low-income neighborhoods, rather than around Franklin Park? It would be a bad business decision. The city should, as it is, focus first on residential construction in downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods, and the retail will eventually follow.

You are right, and if you read what I just wrote that is exactly what I mean with the residential developments and to increase disposable income population which would lead to restoration or revival of the Portside Marketplace. IMO, COSi should be either on the UT Main Campus or at the Zoo if they are going to survive and I find it such a waste to put them in the marketplace when the facility is a perfect place for commercial/retail zoning only. Some of the retail that I have mentioned are in the outlying areas of Toledo but why not one in the downtown area? I live downtown and I would be a patron at the stores listed and why should I as a resident travel to the "sticks" to go these very same stores? I've got the income and so does others who live in the neighborhoods of Warehouse District, Old West End, Uptown, and South Toledo that can support it. Downtown is not all surrounded by low-income neighborhoods which is far from the truth. Hopefully with the residential build-up in the next decade (i.e. Marina District, Steam Plant, Warehouse District, etc) will encourage retail developments to come afterwards. But however, residents does not necessarily have to to be the only group to support these stores because the convention-goers, hotel patrons, tourist, out-of-towner business people, and employees of the downtown area can support it as well in greater number.

Yes, I agree there should be stores that may not be in the region and it would be a draw to the consumers (i.e. Trader Joe's, Apple store, etc) but if you look at the list of what I've listed. I usually list of what is primarily lacking and due to my personal bias of where I usually spend my money. I bold-faced the ones that is not part of this county:

1) Game Stop Store
2) Books-A-Million or Borders Book Store
3) Starbuck's Coffee
4) Scrambler's Marie Cafe
5) FedEx Kinko's
6) Walgreen's with Pharmacy
7) Radio Shack
8) Panera Bread
9) Cinnabon
10) Chipolte
11) GNC store
12) Ben Franklin Store
13) Steve & Barry's University Sportswear
14) Caribou Coffee
15) Chico's
16) Bath & Body Works
17) Victoria's Secret Beauty
18) Hallmark's Store
19) Apple Computer Store
20) Dakota Watchworks
21) Sunglass Hut
22) Osterman Jewelers
23) LensCrafters
24) Auntie Anne’s Pretzels
25) Great Steak & Potato Co.
26) Jamba Juice
27) Einstein Bros. Bagels
28) Pinkberry
29) Eddie Bauer
30) Eddie Bauer Home Store
31) Aveda Environmental Lifestyle Store
32) Chick-fil-A
33) Crabtree & Evelyn
34) Nordstrom Rack
35) The Andersons Market
36) UT Rockets Store
37) Cheesecake Factory Restaurant

Who wouldn't want a Cheesecake Factory in Toledo????!!!!!!!!!

[Pilliod Njaim]

^not me. I think it's horribly overpriced. I like Cheesecake, but they price it like gold.

[Pilliod Njaim]

why drive five miles out of your way to pay to park to shop at the same old stores?

If you live in Toledo, you have to drive out to the suburbs, which is horrible. There needs to be more retail downtown, plain and simple, and there used to be incredible stores downtown up until the 1970's when Tiedke's (one of the best department stores on earth) burnt down.

[cjfjapan]

why drive five miles out of your way to pay to park to shop at the same old stores?

If you live in Toledo, you have to drive out to the suburbs, which is horrible. There needs to be more retail downtown, plain and simple, and there used to be incredible stores downtown up until the 1970's when Tiedke's (one of the best department stores on earth) burnt down.

I don't know Toledo nearly as well as you do, but in my brief time here, the neighborhoods surrounding downtown do not seem to be ones that would support (a)typical mall stores Downtown, especially since there are so many other failing malls in the city. Without traffic downtown, why invest? The Columbus mall seemed to fail for that reason, and the only reason that the Indianapolis Circle Centre is still vibrant is because of the regular heavy convention traffic. What would the consumer source of a revived retail Portside be? Frankly, outside of the Old West End, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of disposable income with a three mile radius of Portside, and the hotel business downtown doesn't appear overly healthy. I could be wrong, of course. It's happened before. :)

A Ben Franklin would be a great store to have downtown, if there is traffic. I love the one in Bowling Green.

[ilovetoledo]

I think you are sadly mistaken. I like in south toledo and for me to drive to Franklin Park or Fallen Timbers it takes a huge chunk out of my time. If there were stores in downtown i would shop at the without a doubt. Obviously the City of Toledo is trying to establish a more retail type scene with the Marina District. Also, the ARENA is going to work wonders. Look at the Mud hens... Look how many bars and residential buildings opened up. The reason stores are afraid to open up is because during the winter people dont really like to go downtown...UNTIL NOW, we will have things going on all year round and when the hockey team because as famous as the Storm people will be comming from all over to see Toledo. This arena isnt just something else to do its more of a ripple effect. In 2009 when it opens we will see bars, residential, and retail opening up with the assurance of customers all year round due to the arena. We are all very unpatient because we all know that when it comes its going to retell a story we thought we knew about downtown.

[cjfjapan]

I think you are sadly mistaken. I like in south toledo and for me to drive to Franklin Park or Fallen Timbers it takes a huge chunk out of my time. If there were stores in downtown i would shop at the without a doubt. Obviously the City of Toledo is trying to establish a more retail type scene with the Marina District. Also, the ARENA is going to work wonders. Look at the Mud hens... Look how many bars and residential buildings opened up. The reason stores are afraid to open up is because during the winter people dont really like to go downtown...UNTIL NOW, we will have things going on all year round and when the hockey team because as famous as the Storm people will be comming from all over to see Toledo. This arena isnt just something else to do its more of a ripple effect. In 2009 when it opens we will see bars, residential, and retail opening up with the assurance of customers all year round due to the arena. We are all very unpatient because we all know that when it comes its going to retell a story we thought we knew about downtown.

Of course, I HOPE you are right - I would personally go out of my way to support downtown businesses. I just am trying to make sense of why downtown retail has been dying, and dead in Toledo, and what other cities have done to revive it. Isn't there a mall in Oregon?

[ilovetoledo]

People have this superficial, narrowminded, opinion on DTT. They think that all the poor people are there and since O-I isnt there anymore no buisnesses are there. REASON BEING. The Toledo Blade. When do you hear anything good about the Downtown except buisness going out and if there is something going in then its in the second news on the back pages. The media needs to be our source of revival. Mud Hens get people down there (from all over) and they see only one part of DTT, the warehouse disctrict. Hopefully the arena will open up the eyes of Toledoan to see that this is our downtown. NO one can revive it but us. I wish Toledo City Council could read these threads and see our opinions, what we need, what we want, and what we have to have in order to go downthere.

[ddp]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this new strip center located just behind the Cracker Barrel in Maumee (it appears to be part of a larger development connected with the new Marriott hotel opposite to the Phase I building).

http://www.tomahawkco.com/

No word on who's going in, but the PDF link shows the other Phases and how large the shopping center will be -- looks like 3-4 more phases to come).

I'm not a fan of these things, but at least Maumee has significant covenants in place to control design, signage heights / styles, buried power lines, etc. and make the structures look semi-appealing.

[Pilliod Njaim]

Of course, I HOPE you are right - I would personally go out of my way to support downtown businesses. I just am trying to make sense of why downtown retail has been dying, and dead in Toledo, and what other cities have done to revive it. Isn't there a mall in Oregon?

Oregon doesn't have a bona fide mall, just some strip malls, and generally trashy ones at that. Oregon also lacks any real downtown (though half of it is an extension of heavily urbanized East Toledo).

People have this superficial, narrowminded, opinion on DTT. They think that all the poor people are there and since O-I isnt there anymore no buisnesses are there.

Those people would be called suburbanites, particularly of the Anthony Wayne, Perrysburg, and Sylvania variety.

I think you are sadly mistaken. I like in south toledo and for me to drive to Franklin Park or Fallen Timbers it takes a huge chunk out of my time. If there were stores in downtown i would shop at the without a doubt.

Me too, and I agree the central city residents are screwed by having to drive to Franklin Park or some other suburban trash. Downtown used to be THE retail hub of Northwest Ohio. Unfortunately, suburbanization took its toll over the last few decades, and downtown now lacks a major department store. Downtown retail was dominant all the way up until 1970, so there's no reason it can't work again. Once people move back to the downtown and adjacent neighborhoods, retail will follow. Retail does follow population (except in suburban lifestyle centers), and the population of downtown is growing. We need more development focusing on pedestrians/mass transit, not automobiles. Unfortunately, in the heavily car-dependent Midwest, this will take a lot of time, political will, and initial investment. Hopefully hideous suburban wrecks like Franklin Park will one day be things of the past. We'll go back to what Summit Street used to be like before urban renewal.

If Toledo can ever get that passenger rail line built between UT and Downtown, that would do wonders for the viability of retail establishments downtown.

[Bonjourtoledo]

People have this superficial, narrowminded, opinion on DTT. They think that all the poor people are there and since O-I isnt there anymore no buisnesses are there. REASON BEING. The Toledo Blade. When do you hear anything good about the Downtown except buisness going out and if there is something going in then its in the second news on the back pages. The media needs to be our source of revival. Mud Hens get people down there (from all over) and they see only one part of DTT, the warehouse disctrict. Hopefully the arena will open up the eyes of Toledoan to see that this is our downtown. NO one can revive it but us. I wish Toledo City Council could read these threads and see our opinions, what we need, what we want, and what we have to have in order to go downthere.

Ditto a thousand times.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this new strip center located just behind the Cracker Barrel in Maumee (it appears to be part of a larger development connected with the new Marriott hotel opposite to the Phase I building).

http://www.tomahawkco.com/

No word on who's going in, but the PDF link shows the other Phases and how large the shopping center will be -- looks like 3-4 more phases to come).

I'm not a fan of these things, but at least Maumee has significant covenants in place to control design, signage heights / styles, buried power lines, etc. and make the structures look semi-appealing.

ddp thanks for the link to this development and I was just wondering what was going on behind Studio Plus Hotel, Cracker Barrell, and Smokey Bones restaurants. It looks like a pretty big project since it is stretched from Arrowhead Drive to Ford Street running parallel to Dussell. Are they going to be in competition with Suffolk Square (North of Dussell along Ford) since they've really grown in the past ten years. I'm curious of who's who will be occupying this new development?

[Bonjourtoledo]

Of course, I HOPE you are right - I would personally go out of my way to support downtown businesses. I just am trying to make sense of why downtown retail has been dying, and dead in Toledo, and what other cities have done to revive it. Isn't there a mall in Oregon?

Oregon doesn't have a bona fide mall, just some strip malls, and generally trashy ones at that. Oregon also lacks any real downtown (though half of it is an extension of heavily urbanized East Toledo).

People have this superficial, narrowminded, opinion on DTT. They think that all the poor people are there and since O-I isnt there anymore no buisnesses are there.

Those people would be called suburbanites, particularly of the Anthony Wayne, Perrysburg, and Sylvania variety.

I think you are sadly mistaken. I like in south toledo and for me to drive to Franklin Park or Fallen Timbers it takes a huge chunk out of my time. If there were stores in downtown i would shop at the without a doubt.

Me too, and I agree the central city residents are screwed by having to drive to Franklin Park or some other suburban trash. Downtown used to be THE retail hub of Northwest Ohio. Unfortunately, suburbanization took its toll over the last few decades, and downtown now lacks a major department store. Downtown retail was dominant all the way up until 1970, so there's no reason it can't work again. Once people move back to the downtown and adjacent neighborhoods, retail will follow. Retail does follow population (except in suburban lifestyle centers), and the population of downtown is growing. We need more development focusing on pedestrians/mass transit, not automobiles. Unfortunately, in the heavily car-dependent Midwest, this will take a lot of time, political will, and initial investment. Hopefully hideous suburban wrecks like Franklin Park will one day be things of the past. We'll go back to what Summit Street used to be like before urban renewal.

If Toledo can ever get that passenger rail line built between UT and Downtown, that would do wonders for the viability of retail establishments downtown.

Ditto again. IMO, a passenger rail line has to be supported by a sales tax county-wide not this fragmented, property tax that is supported by a few communities. It truly has to be a regional effort to make this happen. Last but not least, Oregon is utter trash because you can't find a single reason to be there unless it's St. Charles Hospital or Maumee Bay Park.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Mudhen419]

Easy on Oregon...... It might be set up weird but it is a nice place to live in and we have the largest population for a toledo suburb besides bedford area i think.... With a downtown or not Oregon will survive and grow.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Easy on Oregon...... It might be set up weird but it is a nice place to live in and we have the largest population for a toledo suburb besides bedford area i think.... With a downtown or not Oregon will survive and grow.

MudHen419, no offense intended for the folks of Oregon or the town itself. So I apologize if I ruffled the feathers a bit extreme. As in urban planning professional or city lovers, Oregon defies against all "urbane rules" of what a city or town shall be.

Yes you are right, about the largest population for Toledo suburb in Ohio and Oregon will survive without a downtown, but I am wondering if Oregon is actually Toledo and is downtown Toledo actually Oregon's as well as much as most folks would not admit to it?

[Pilliod Njaim]

Last but not least, Oregon is utter trash because you can't find a single reason to be there unless it's St. Charles Hospital or Maumee Bay Park.

There's also Toledo Harbor, which is huge and very impressive for people into shipping. Oregon has a few other beaches (private) and some boat launches/marinas as well. There are good reasons to visit Oregon, but shopping is not one of them. The lack of a downtown (like you see in Maumee, Perrysburg, or old Sylvania) is a big negative too. Oregon has its gritty and cool urban part, but the suburban part is pretty ugly.

I love the accents east of the Maumee. It seems to me (I don't live in Toledo anymore) that the Great Lakes accent is much stronger east of the river than west of the river. East Toledo, Oregon, Rossford, etc. residents sound very much like people from Detroit and Windsor. It's a cool accent, and I never noticed until I moved out of Toledo and came back to visit. The areas west of the river (most of metro Toledo) speak with a softer version of the accent, though I still notice it in most people, particularly on "O" and "A" sounds. I always notice it on the phrase "OK". I never thought Toledo had any sort of northern accent when I was growing up, but after living elsewhere, I do notice a slight accent that's common in the Great Lakes cities. Findlay is the city where people speak totally flat English with no regional variation. Once you get to Lima or anything south, you start hearing southern accents. By the Ohio River, they can be very strong.

[Pilliod Njaim]

Yes you are right, about the largest population for Toledo suburb in Ohio and Oregon will survive without a downtown, but I am wondering if Oregon is actually Toledo and is downtown Toledo actually Oregon's as well as much as most folks would not admit to it?

Oregon's connection has always been with East Side neighborhoods, which is the norm in the eastern metro area. The East Side (including Oregon and Rossford) has a strong identity, much of it tied to its strong Hungarian and Polish heritage- even stronger than in areas west of the river. I've always pictured the eastern metro area as sort of another city that's right next to Toledo, but independent. It's like the Duluth-Superior setup.

The largest Ohio suburb of Toledo would be Sylvania Township, then Springfield Township, not Oregon. Sylvania City is the same size as Oregon (both about 20,000 people). The largest satellite cities in the metro area are Bowling Green and Monroe (some consider Adrian a satellite too). The thing is, if you combine Perryburg Township with its city and Sylvania Township with its city, both are huge. Sylvania would be around 50,000 people and Perrysburg would be around 35,000.

Bedford is THE largest suburb in Ohio or Michigan. It's about 30,000 people, but that includes Lambertville and Temperance. The true township part is only about 15,000 people.

Ditto again. IMO, a passenger rail line has to be supported by a sales tax county-wide

Of course. If it came to vote, I think it could pass since too Toledo is 2/3's of Lucas County. I know UT has said it would help fund a line between main campus and downtown as well.

[ilovetoledo]

The lack of a downtown (like you see in Maumee, Perrysburg, or old Sylvania) is a big negative too. Oregon has its gritty but cool urban part, but the suburban part is pretty ugly.

Im sorry to say that Maumee does have a downtown and a very sucessful one at that. Almost at full ocupancy with a wide range of bars, shops, and resturaunts.

[ilovetoledo]

does anybody know what is going to be put in by the property by the zoo that was just leveled? Is that the zoo's? and if so are they planning to expand because i think that would be highly supported by the community

[Pilliod Njaim]

^It was the Haughton Factory. I don't think there are any plans for the property.

[Pilliod Njaim]

Im sorry to say that Maumee does have a downtown and a very sucessful one at that. Almost at full ocupancy with a wide range of bars, shops, and resturaunts.

I said that unlike what you see in Oregon, Maumee, Perrysburg, and Sylvania have downtowns. You must of misread what I said. Maumee and Perrysburg have great downtowns. Sylvania's is smaller, but cute. Though really, Bowling Green, Monroe, and Port Clinton are the best downtowns in the region outside of downtown Toledo.

[Bonjourtoledo]

UT named among best employers in academia
By Jon Strunk Nov 13, 2007
Posted on the UT Website

The University of Toledo has been named to the 2007 list of the 40 Best Places to Work in Academia by The Scientist, a magazine that focuses on the life sciences.

UT is ranked 27th in the nation, and the magazine identifies the University’s environment and research infrastructure and compensation levels as the two primary strengths highlighted by employees.

Dr. Brian Ashburner, UT associate professor of biological sciences, said rankings such as these generate exposure that helps recruit top faculty and students to the University.

“Once people realize that we have these active research programs on the Main Campus and the Health Science Campus, it really makes UT very attractive,” Ashburner said. “Faculty positions are really competitive, and any time you’re on the same list as institutions like Massachusetts General or Duke University, it’s a definite advantage.”

Dr. Doug Wilkerson, vice president for research administration, said the listing was just one more example of the way the perception of UT was changing.

“The availability of research space is something we’re always conscious of, something we’re always working to increase and enhance,” Wilkerson said. “I think that commitment is being recognized among our own faculty, and rankings like those in The Scientist serve to highlight that for potential faculty or students interested in research.”

While agreeing with Wilkerson that there are always enhancements that can be made, Ashburner said that his research space was as good as he’s experienced anywhere.

“One thing faculty candidates are always surprised about is the amount of high-quality research taking place at UT,” he said. “It’s important to get word out.”

The data for the rankings were gathered from responses from tenured and tenure-track life scientists to a Web-based questionnaire issued by The Scientist.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Im sorry to say that Maumee does have a downtown and a very sucessful one at that. Almost at full ocupancy with a wide range of bars, shops, and resturaunts.

I said that unlike what you see in Oregon, Maumee, Perrysburg, and Sylvania have downtowns. You must of misread what I said. Maumee and Perrysburg have great downtowns. Sylvania's is smaller, but cute. Though really, Bowling Green, Monroe, and Port Clinton are the best downtowns in the region outside of downtown Toledo.

Don't forget Findlay. They even have Scrambler's Cafe in downtown Grrrrrrrr.

[Pilliod Njaim]

^I never really considered Findlay part of Toledo's region. The MSA is Lucas, Ottawa, Wood, and Fulton Counties, and Toledo media saturates Monroe and Adrian. Findlay? Not so much. It's more cut off, and at 40 miles away is stretching the limit. They have an amazing downtown, though. In the state of Ohio, only Athens has a better downtown than Findlay. It's the best non-college downtown in the state by far- healthy, occupied, and the functional heart of the city. The irony of this is that Findlay is conservative, a group of people not typically associated with such strong urban development. Findlay is the Grand Rapids mindest in Ohio- influenced heavily by big business, but preserving urban structure. Most people associate conservatives with suburbia (which is usually true), but cities like Findlay and Grand Rapids buck the trend.

Findlay's downtown is also HUGE for a city its size, and all the nearby neighborhoods are healthy, walkable, and historic. It's like a larger, more conservative, non-Great Lakes version of Monroe, Michigan. They both have healthy cores, outstanding architecture, great nearby neighborhoods, and still relatively limited sprawl (though I-75 is starting to change that in both cities).

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Pilliod Njaim]

^Awesome

[ilovetoledo]

I dont mean to tell you my life story. But today i got like 8 people together and went to Cosi to see it for the last time and it was the saddest thing. The staff is really hurting by this loss because most of them LOVE their job as teaching children. A worker there was telling me how a little kid said that he had 25 dollars in his piggie bank and was willing to give it to COSI if they could just stay open. HOW DEPRESSING! Im sorry but this is totally hurting everybody. The voters are 18 years and older. How about a vote for 18 years and under. If a vote were to be taken in every TPS to ask students if they want Cosi to stay open. Hands down most if not every student would raise their hand to stay open. I love Cosi and to see it close is going to kill me. I hope, and i pray that god will find some sort of funding for Cosi to be able to stay open. The workers and the children are hoping for a miracle, its up to God to make this happen...

[Bonjourtoledo]

Keep praying.....as I always say...when one door closes there's always another door opening.

[Pilliod Njaim]

A worker there was telling me how a little kid said that he had 25 dollars in his piggie bank and was willing to give it to COSI if they could just stay open.

Wow, that is really, really sad. It almost brings a tear to your eye.

[ilovetoledo]

Please Visit http://www.cositoledo.org/ and do the 3 things that Cosi says that could save them. Please lets get people to write letters to all of the people they listed and voice our great heartbreak and request additional funding in our time of need. PLEASE everyone reading this partisipate and HELP SAVE COSI TOLEDO BEFORE ITS TOO LATE...

[ilovetoledo]

I used to like Mayor Carty Finbeiner but somethings are questionable...


WTVG--November 16, 2007 - A loss of money could mean the end of CitiFest and a Toledo tradition. CitiFest made a big announcement today about its future and what is ahead for the holiday parade. One of Toledo's long-standing traditions will continue in 2007. As for future holiday parades, Mayor Carty Finkbeiner announced yesterday Toledo will no longer fund CitiFest, the parade's organizer. So this year's parade is a go, but CitiFest itself will be out of business effective December 7. The CitiFest board volunteers will remain, but three employees will lose their jobs.
On Tuesday, the city took control of Erie Street Market, which CitiFest once managed or mismanaged according to the mayor. He disputes the group's claim the city owes it $91,000 for losses at the market. The results of an accounting audit into CitiFest's books are due the end of next week. For now, CitiFest hopes sponsors will step forward to keep traditions like the parade, River Fest and the 4th of July celebrations going in downtown Toledo.
We should have those results of the CitiFest audit in about two weeks. The holiday parade is November 24 from 11 to 12:30 downtown. Sam Hornish Jr. will be the grand marshal.

Maybe we should write to the mayor about keeping this tradition. What is going on with Downtown lately. All i hear is bad news and its really depressing

[ilovetoledo]

check out the new designs for the new coking plant that is supposed to be going in Toledo... http://www.fdscokeplant.com/

[bhagavadgita]

I know this is a development thread but I believe I saw one of the Toledo members post something similar before, what is the current homicide total in Toledo? I know it is alot lower than last year. What do you believe is the major cause/s for the decrease from 35 last year to whatever you are at this year?

[Bonjourtoledo]

I used to like Mayor Carty Finbeiner but somethings are questionable...


WTVG--November 16, 2007 - A loss of money could mean the end of CitiFest and a Toledo tradition. CitiFest made a big announcement today about its future and what is ahead for the holiday parade. One of Toledo's long-standing traditions will continue in 2007. As for future holiday parades, Mayor Carty Finkbeiner announced yesterday Toledo will no longer fund CitiFest, the parade's organizer. So this year's parade is a go, but CitiFest itself will be out of business effective December 7. The CitiFest board volunteers will remain, but three employees will lose their jobs.
On Tuesday, the city took control of Erie Street Market, which CitiFest once managed or mismanaged according to the mayor. He disputes the group's claim the city owes it $91,000 for losses at the market. The results of an accounting audit into CitiFest's books are due the end of next week. For now, CitiFest hopes sponsors will step forward to keep traditions like the parade, River Fest and the 4th of July celebrations going in downtown Toledo.
We should have those results of the CitiFest audit in about two weeks. The holiday parade is November 24 from 11 to 12:30 downtown. Sam Hornish Jr. will be the grand marshal.

Maybe we should write to the mayor about keeping this tradition. What is going on with Downtown lately. All i hear is bad news and its really depressing

Eh. Erie Street Market will do fine since they have a Farmer's Market and Libbey Glass Outlet has signed a new lease for the next 5-10 years. They are doing great business in the Civic Promenade Banquet Hall.

Non-profit Citifest has been in financial trouble before and they will get themselves out with corporate sponsors taking care of the debt. Holiday Parade, Rally by the River, Ribs on the River and a few others will stay on course if not by some other group. To me it's all an economic cycle, you will go up high and then you go low, it's a matter of time that it will go back up.

[Bonjourtoledo]

check out the new designs for the new coking plant that is supposed to be going in Toledo... http://www.fdscokeplant.com/

Good thing that the U.S. Coking Plant is still a reality. Good paying jobs for the region is much needed.

[Bonjourtoledo]

I know this is a development thread but I believe I saw one of the Toledo members post something similar before, what is the current homicide total in Toledo? I know it is alot lower than last year. What do you believe is the major cause/s for the decrease from 35 last year to whatever you are at this year?

Last time I've heard it's about 10 or 11 homicide so far for this year versus to 25-28 same time last year. Major cause for decrease in my opinion, active blockwatch efforts city-wide, aftermath of the death of Det. Dressel, economy shaping up, and diverse police efforts (bikes, mount patrol).

MOST DANGEROUS 25:
1. Detroit, 407.2
2. St. Louis, 406.2
3. Flint, Mich., 381.0
4. Oakland, Calif., 338.9
5. Camden, N.J., 323.8
6. Birmingham, Ala., 268.8
7. North Charleston, S.C., 254.3
8. Memphis, 245.6
9. Richmond, Calif., 245.1
10. Cleveland, 244.4
11. Orlando, Fla., 237.4
12. Baltimore, 236.7
13. Little Rock, 233.8
14. Compton, Calif., 223.6
15. Youngstown , 222.0
16. Cincinnati, 218.3
17. Gary, Ind., 214.0
18. Kansas City, Mo., 203.4
19. Dayton, 201.5
20. Newark, N.J., 197.3
21. Philadelphia, 192.9
22. Atlanta, 189.9
23. Jackson, Miss., 188.8
24. Buffalo, 187.8
25. Kansas City , 187.6

SAFEST CITIES
A list of the least dangerous cities with at least 75,000 residents. The danger score uses zero as the national average.
1. Mission Viejo, Calif., -82.1
2. Clarkstown, N.Y., -81.0
3. Brick Township, N.J., -78.7
4. Amherst, N.Y., -75.4
5. Sugar Land, Texas, -75.4
6. Colonie, N.Y., -74.6
7. Thousand Oaks, Calif., -73.8
8. Newton, Mass., -73.5
9. Toms River Township, N.J. -72.7
10. Lake Forest, Calif., -71.7
11. Irvine, Calif., -71.1
12. Orem, Utah, -70.6
13. Round Rock, Texas, -69.4
14. Cary, N.C., -68.6
15. Greece, N.Y., -68.5
16. Chino Hills, Calif., -63.2
17. Coral Springs, Fla., -62.0
18. Troy, Mich., -61.8
19. Farmington Hills, Mich., -61.7
20. Centennial, Colo., -61.3
21. Glendale, Calif., -59.2
22. Broken Arrow, Okla., -58.8
23. Parma, Ohio, -58.8
24. Sterling Heights, Mich., -58.5
25. Simi Valley, Calif., -58.5

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Pilliod Njaim]

Miss Kaptur (D., Toledo) has been working with the Red Cross over the course of three Congresses to convince them that their operations to serve southeast Michigan and northwest Ohio should be in Toledo.

"It was a fight," she said. "It was a real effort to work with them to show that their requirements and our requirements were a match and, meanwhile, being successful in three appropriation bills to bring tax dollars back home to make the Toledo offer attractive compared to the other choices."

About $4.2 million in federal funding has been obtained to attract health-related jobs here, she said.

God, I love Marcy Kaptur. She's the best representative you could ask for, and one of the strongest and most influential women in Congress. Toledo is very lucky to have her.

[ilovetoledo]

i couldnt find anything on wtol but i was watching them talk about it on tv. There is a vacant building that sits right next to fifth third field that many say is an eyesore. Well the problem is being solved because a Detroit Pizza Place is setting up shop here in the Glass City. This just goes to prove me point about the ripple effect from the Mud Hens and what is being forshadowed about the Arena

[tk29]

From WTOL.com

From strip club to pizzeria -- check out new business!

TOLEDO -- Ever since Fifth Third Field was built, there's been plenty of controversy surrounding what should happen to a couple of former strip clubs at Monroe and Huron Sts. One club has been torn down, but the other has survived. And now -- well, it's getting a second chance at life, reports News 11's Rob Wiercinski.

Much to the delight of business operators in the Warehouse District, a PizzaPapalis Tavern is going to open -- right across the street from the Blarney Irish Pub, whose owner is bubbling about his soon-to-be neighbor.

"When I go up to Greektown, we always make it a point to stop and get a great pizza from PizzaPapalis, so to find out they're coming here is a great surprise," says Ed Beczynski.

New life for another property in the Warehouse District is music to the ears of Kathy Steingraber with St. Clair Village. She says it's well worth the time and effort to restore those buildings, because once they're gone, they're gone for good.

"We can't duplicate anything that we have now; they're a major part of the city, a major part of the city's history," Steingraber says.

Besides the Mud Hens, Steingraber says other factors are helping to improve that neighborhood. "We're almost becoming Toledo's Soho. It's people who want to have that urban atmosphere, and a lot of people are happier down here on non-game days," she says.

For Beczynski, it's one more reason to toast the future business climate. "That's what we need, more places like that in downtown, keep that ball rolling. The arena going in, it's just going to keep happening," he says.

On the Web: www.PizzaPapalis.com

Posted by KO

[Bonjourtoledo]

^^ I looooove deep dish pizza. I cannot wait for them to open up and it'll remind me that I'm in Chicago. Good move for the business to open up in the former Brenda Body Shop on Monroe & Huron.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[ilovetoledo]

Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner wants to seek voter renewal of the 0.75-percent temporary income tax at the March 4 election, City Council was told yesterday at its biweekly agenda review meeting.

Council finance committee Chairman George Sarantou said council would have to vote by Dec. 11 to get it on the primary election ballot.

The tax, first approved in 1982, has been renewed regularly since then, usually for four years.

The 0.75 percent is projected to raise about $57.7 million in 2008 and is part of the city's total 2.25 percent wage tax.

Mr. Finkbeiner's chief of staff, Bob Reinbolt, said the tax expires at the end of 2008.

He said renewing the tax earlier in the year will provide assurance of revenue for 2009 when next year's budget proposal is produced.

One-sixth of the tax revenue goes into capital improvements and five-sixths goes into the general fund.

Mr. Sarantou said the issue could be discussed at 4 p.m. Wednesday when the finance committee gets its first look at the mayor's proposed 2008 general operating fund budget.

Also introduced yesterday were:

•A resolution calling on Gov. Ted Strickland and the Ohio General Assembly to reject a proposed restructuring of electricity rates. The resolution says the law would lock in place rates that were supposed to be temporary surcharges and have a negative effect on Toledo's economy.

•Creation of a facade improvement program for the area centering on Dorr Street and Junction Avenue, with $55,500 available for new facades and signs. The program mirrors one recently created for Reynolds Road in the area of Southwyck Shopping Center

[ilovetoledo]

WTOL.
The City of Toledo has purchased the store that was Dillard's at Southwyck mall.

The store was owned by the Dillard family and operated through the owners of Southwyck mall, who live in Kansas City. Dillard's closed its doors at Southwyck in October.

Mayor Finkbeiner announced Wednesday that the City of Toledo is buying the store and a portion of the parking lot, totaling 11.5 acres, at a cost of $1 million.

Finkbeiner said the money will come from a capitol improvement fund already budgeted for Southwyck. The deal with the Dillard family will close in December. Mayor Finkbeiner will then sell the property to developer Larry Dillin, who is meeting Wednesday with the owners of the mall. Dillin will work out a development plan to redevelop the property. Work may begin in the Spring.

[cjfjapan]

This is good news, eh? I went into Southwyck a few weeks ago and...wow. I'd never been in a dead mall before. Marty can be a dolt, but I hope this works for Toledo.

WTOL.
The City of Toledo has purchased the store that was Dillard's at Southwyck mall.

The store was owned by the Dillard family and operated through the owners of Southwyck mall, who live in Kansas City. Dillard's closed its doors at Southwyck in October.

Mayor Finkbeiner announced Wednesday that the City of Toledo is buying the store and a portion of the parking lot, totaling 11.5 acres, at a cost of $1 million.

Finkbeiner said the money will come from a capitol improvement fund already budgeted for Southwyck. The deal with the Dillard family will close in December. Mayor Finkbeiner will then sell the property to developer Larry Dillin, who is meeting Wednesday with the owners of the mall. Dillin will work out a development plan to redevelop the property. Work may begin in the Spring.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner wants to seek voter renewal of the 0.75-percent temporary income tax at the March 4 election, City Council was told yesterday at its biweekly agenda review meeting.

Council finance committee Chairman George Sarantou said council would have to vote by Dec. 11 to get it on the primary election ballot.

The tax, first approved in 1982, has been renewed regularly since then, usually for four years.

The 0.75 percent is projected to raise about $57.7 million in 2008 and is part of the city's total 2.25 percent wage tax.

Mr. Finkbeiner's chief of staff, Bob Reinbolt, said the tax expires at the end of 2008.

He said renewing the tax earlier in the year will provide assurance of revenue for 2009 when next year's budget proposal is produced.

One-sixth of the tax revenue goes into capital improvements and five-sixths goes into the general fund.

Mr. Sarantou said the issue could be discussed at 4 p.m. Wednesday when the finance committee gets its first look at the mayor's proposed 2008 general operating fund budget.

Also introduced yesterday were:

•A resolution calling on Gov. Ted Strickland and the Ohio General Assembly to reject a proposed restructuring of electricity rates. The resolution says the law would lock in place rates that were supposed to be temporary surcharges and have a negative effect on Toledo's economy.

•Creation of a facade improvement program for the area centering on Dorr Street and Junction Avenue, with $55,500 available for new facades and signs. The program mirrors one recently created for Reynolds Road in the area of Southwyck Shopping Center

Remember it's a renewal not a "new" or "increased" tax. So it's important to realize that and it's imperative to keep our fire and police services funded.

[Bonjourtoledo]

This is good news, eh? I went into Southwyck a few weeks ago and...wow. I'd never been in a dead mall before. Marty can be a dolt, but I hope this works for Toledo.

It is very good news considering that Dillard's is the one that is the ultimate obstacle and the property will be sold to Dillin as we proceed the long-awaited redevelopment of Southwyck. It is very good news now that we can have a progressive corridor along Reynolds like the south side of turnpike in Maumee. It's time to get moving!

[Bonjourtoledo]

FINALLY! We can move on with this long-awaited redevelopment project.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[ilovetoledo]

check out think link and click through the pictures to see what Toledo Hospital is going to look like when it is fully completed

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.formz.com/images/gallery/Module_LTD/image_01.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.formz.com/gallery/user_page.php%3Fid%3D211&h=300&w=400&sz=45&hl=en&start=20&um=1&tbnid=ICUJS1LP8bmLGM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtoledo,%2Bohio%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

[Bonjourtoledo]

Boy, this writer must be out of his creativity mode to write this article. He is clearly writing this on "putting-the-cart-before-the-horse" and needs be patient in regards to any project which always takes time especially with a lot of obstacles. It will all be good at the end.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[ilovetoledo]

Holy crap that is really good news. So does that mean more jobs? More oeople relocating to Toledo...? I really just wanna watch this renewable energy thing take off. I hope and pray to god that it will happen soon

[Pilliod Njaim]

Sale of historic Perrysburg building is likely

good, good, good. That's one of the best buildings in historic Perrysburg.

Now that I'm home for winter break, I'm going to be exploring the new projects in metro Toledo, and Uptown Maumee is looking sweet with its Christmas lights.

[ilovetoledo]

TOLEDO -- The City of Toledo wants to buy property at Southwyck Mall, but that plan is coming under the microscope.

Legislation for the city to purchase more than 11 acres of the mall property is going before council for approval, reports News 11's Rob Wiercinski.

At least one member of council and a soon-to-be councilman tell News 11 they have serious concerns about the city spending a little over $1 million to buy the Dillard's Store and a portion of the parking lot at Southwyck.

They fear the quick timeline for this purchase might end up costing the city.

Councilman-elect Mike Collins has sent a letter to the mayor and members of council saying there's a disconnect between comments made by the mayor and what's on paper.

"He alludes that Dillin or some other person within 30 days is going to purchase the property. That is not found within the ordinance," Collins says, referring to developer Larry Dillin.

Councilwoman Betty Shultz also has her concerns. She's worried the city could end up being on the hook for environmental clean-up.

"My understanding is that we haven't yet made an environmental study, so I'd rather have that before we put out money that belongs to the taxpayers for it," Shultz says, adding that considering the city continues to pay for real estate deals from the past, she has every right to raise a red flag about a $1 million transaction.

"We need reasonable assurances that we're not going to be risking those dollars in that manner again, because if that's the case, we won't have any capital improvement money," Shultz says.

Collins says he's hoping the administration will provide answers before council is expected to approve the deal in two weeks time. "I am going to hold the administration accountable for every single penny it spends."

The only response coming from the mayor's office is confirmation that they received the letter from Collins.

[nickw311]

Sale of historic Perrysburg building is likely

good, good, good. That's one of the best buildings in historic Perrysburg.

Now that I'm home for winter break, I'm going to be exploring the new projects in metro Toledo, and Uptown Maumee is looking sweet with its Christmas lights.


How is that good that the building was bought? My understanding is that the developer is going to tear down the building and put in a strip mall. :bash:

[ilovetoledo]

its better than looking at an old building that has no use anymore...

[Pilliod Njaim]

How is that good that the building was bought? My understanding is that the developer is going to tear down the building and put in a strip mall. :bash:

Oh jesus, you're right. I didn't read the whole article. This is terrible! I guess Perrysburg is no longer interested in historic preservation.

[Mudhen419]

Penta Center to open a year early...... This was from the neighbors east section of the blade yesterday... I heard the old penta will go to Owens.... anyone hear anything about this?? If so it will be a nice addition to the already thriving campus of Owens Community College

[Bonjourtoledo]

Penta Center to open a year early...... This was from the neighbors east section of the blade yesterday... I heard the old penta will go to Owens.... anyone hear anything about this?? If so it will be a nice addition to the already thriving campus of Owens Community College

Yes, Penta will be opening a year early and the old Penta will be adding onto the existing campus of OSCC. I certainly hope they improve the access road (Buck Road) from I-75 to the campus through the Aimpoint Industrial Park.

IMO, OSCC should consider opening a full-time Lucas County campus perhaps downtown Toledo or West Toledo, even as they just recently opened up a Training class center at the Source on Monroe & 14th Street.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

It's time for First Solar Inc. to relocate their world headquarters from Phoenix to the Toledo metro so they can be closer to their only gigantic solar plant(s) in North America. Since the economic development team/elected officials are tight-lipped about it, they should consider either downtown Toledo, Arrowhead Business Park, UT Health Science Campus or nearby First Solar plant on Route 795 to build a world headquarters. My first choice would be downtown Toledo as they should buy/rehab the Hytower Building; or move into One Seagate Tower or Lake Erie Center for centrality purposes.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Oh Boy, a North American headquarters in downtown Toledo or the UT Health Science campus would be a great boost for this region. Let's hope they consider state of Ohio and particularly our region for their choice and since Toledo region is becoming a Solar Tech booming region of the nation it would make sense to choose Toledo.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

BGSU ‘dream’ quietly comes true: Campaign reaches $120 million goal; trustees announce $150 million in building projects
By HAROLD BROWN Sentinel City Editor
Posted on BG-Sentinel website

HURON — Bowling Green State University’s $120 million Building Dreams Campaign broke through its announced goal Friday with little fanfare.
Later Friday the university quietly announced $150 million worth of building and renovation projects intended to enhance academics, the arts and athletics. The projects will be funded by private gifts, state funds and bonded debt.

“Sometime this afternoon (Friday) we’ll reach that $120 million goal,” Trustee Robert Sebo told the board meeting at the BGSU Firelands campus. “But it’s no big deal. We’ve still got a year-and-a-half to go and a lot of big projects in that goal have not been fully funded. It’s still alive. We’ve got more goals to meet.”

One of those goals is $14 million in private gifts toward an estimated $36 million for a convocation center. To be constructed east of Mercer Road in the vicinity of the Ice Arena and Doyt Perry Stadium, the center will be the new home for men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball, commencement, student concerts and other student-related events. Those events have been held in Memorial Hall’s Anderson Arena since 1961.
Construction is to begin early in 2010 with occupancy planned about September 2012.

Although no seating capacity has been announced, the number is rumored to be no more than 5,500.
“I think we have a decent mix of academic and athletic enhancements,” Board President Mike Marsh said Friday night.
“I know we’ve scaled back the convo center more than some people would like to see, but we’re not going to be able to build a mini Schottenstein Center (Ohio State). It’s not in our universe.”

Marsh said he was among those who pressed for a renovation of the existing Memorial Hall, but the cost was as much or more as starting over. “The Title IX and ADA issues in that (old) building just make it too expensive.”
The convocation center has been the subject of several studies the past several years that also looked at the possibility of including a sheet of ice for hockey.

However, the university has chosen to go with a multi-million-dollar renovation of its Ice Arena.
The work will begin with infrastructure and exterior building work in spring 2009. Funds provided by private gifts will pay for team and fan amenities. The arena was opened in 1967.
There’s been no secret about the $38.5 million Wolfe Center for the Arts that will be built where Saddlemire Student Services Building was demolished last summer.

Housing the Department of Theatre and Film, the Wolfe Center should be ready for occupancy by the end of 2010.
“Each of these projects will add to the enrichment and quality of student life and learning on campus, as well as provide a positive impact on the community,” BGSU President Sidney Ribeau said in a press release.
Renovation projects are planned for University, Hanna and Moseley halls, academic buildings that date to the earliest days of the university.
A $22.7 million renovation and addition are planned for the Student Health Center. That work should start late in 2009.
McDonald dining hall is scheduled for renovation and additional studies are under way for improvements and renovations to residence halls and small group living units.

Provost Shirley Baugher, who joined the staff this year, is reviewing a facilities audit and will also make use of a nearly-completed strategic planning document to help set priorities for academic facilities.
“A superior learning experience is a long-standing tradition at BGSU, from our eminent faculty to the quality of our facilities,” she said.
“Through this process we will continue to invest in academics.
Upgrading classrooms and science laboratories, as well as enhancing the overall learning environment for our students, are top priorities,” she said in a statement.

Friday the trustees authorized spending more than $2 million to upgrade the electrical infrastructure of McDonald Quadrangle and to rebuild and relocate the McDonald and Offenhauer cooling tower.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Penta Center to open a year early...... This was from the neighbors east section of the blade yesterday... I heard the old penta will go to Owens.... anyone hear anything about this?? If so it will be a nice addition to the already thriving campus of Owens Community College

It's official
Penta Career Center to open new school next fall
Posted on The Messenger-Journal website 11-28-2007

Months of rumor and conjecture were put to rest on November 14, when the Penta Career Center Board of Education announced that the new career center will be open to students for the start of the 2008-09 school year.
Superintendent Fred Susor said the school expects to take possession of the building by mid-July 2008.

"We are very pleased that the construction project has progressed at this pace to be able to open earlier than originally expected," he said, adding, "We've been fortunate throughout the construction process."
Joel Nedrow, Rudolph Libbe project manager, said several factors contributed to the early completion of the building, including the ability to perform site work several months ahead of schedule and ideal weather conditions. "We were able to take advantage of the weather," he said.

Mr. Nedrow also credited the construction crews and 13 prime contractors. "The big thing was the cooperation of the contractors." He added, "We have great trades people in northwest Ohio."

The project manager acknowledged that the time frame for completion did allow leeway for "unforeseen circumstances."

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[StevenW]

What are the latest high-rise proposals for Toledo right now?

[Bonjourtoledo]

What are the latest high-rise proposals for Toledo right now?

None at this time. But the Marina District might have some hi-rise development in the long-run, it's a matter of the national housing market and economy to improve in order to enable such developments.

However, I am hopeful for the rehabilitation of the former OC Hytower Building (second tallest hi-rise in the Toledo metro) that has been vacant since 1997. Maybe once the new downtown arena opens in fall of 2009, it will breathe new life into the building.

[StevenW]

^^ Yeah, that would be totally cool! :yes: Thanks! :)

[ilovetoledo]

In 10 years this building will not be empty still espically when we have a lot of things going in downtown toledo such as

The New Arena
Marina District
Growth of the Warehouse District
Possible Location for a World Headquarters and much more with renewable energy companies looking to build their empires

[Pilliod Njaim]

What are the latest high-rise proposals for Toledo right now?

There are no realistic high-rise proposals right now. Some guy who made a documentary on the new bridge proposed a new 14-story building next to it, but he never had funding.

[Mudhen419]

Yea I was hopin that glass city skyway center would happen but looks like it will be a no go.... So will BGSU keep Anderson Arena and use it for a field house? I hope they do keep it the buidling has seen many great players and i believe they hold classes there as well so it has also held many great minds..... Anyone see the news today? the story about the interior of the arena? Not much was shown just a few shots of some tile carpet color schemes. Was hopin for the actual drawings of the inside and what the final plan for the outside will be. Is there any time line for them to put out the final drawings? I remember 5th 3rd switched there plans up some after construction started.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Yea I was hopin that glass city skyway center would happen but looks like it will be a no go.... So will BGSU keep Anderson Arena and use it for a field house? I hope they do keep it the buidling has seen many great players and i believe they hold classes there as well so it has also held many great minds..... Anyone see the news today? the story about the interior of the arena? Not much was shown just a few shots of some tile carpet color schemes. Was hopin for the actual drawings of the inside and what the final plan for the outside will be. Is there any time line for them to put out the final drawings? I remember 5th 3rd switched there plans up some after construction started.

I do think they will keep Anderson Arena and usually the convocation center are used like a Student Recreation Center (i.e. UT Rec Center) and other multi-purpose activities, but I could be wrong.

I want purple color...no I want pink....NO I WANT ORANGE! I can see it now, lol! :nuts:

[BGFalcon]

Yea I was hopin that glass city skyway center would happen but looks like it will be a no go.... So will BGSU keep Anderson Arena and use it for a field house? I hope they do keep it the buidling has seen many great players and i believe they hold classes there as well so it has also held many great minds.

I heard something about the gymnastics team using it. Right now they are in a regular building that has classes in it.

[Pilliod Njaim]

Yea I was hopin that glass city skyway center would happen but looks like it will be a no go.... So will BGSU keep Anderson Arena and use it for a field house?

No offense to BG, but the BG arena needs a serious renovation or a new venue entirely. It's pretty bad compared to some other MAC areans. My school's arena is three times the size of Anderson. UT's renovated Savage Hall will be large by MAC standards and also quite nice. BG deserves something better and more comparable.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[BGFalcon]

Yea I was hopin that glass city skyway center would happen but looks like it will be a no go.... So will BGSU keep Anderson Arena and use it for a field house?

No offense to BG, but the BG arena needs a serious renovation or a new venue entirely. It's pretty bad compared to some other MAC areans. My school's arena is three times the size of Anderson. UT's renovated Savage Hall will be large by MAC standards and also quite nice. BG deserves something better and more comparable.

There is an article on the last page or 2 saying that BG is building a new convocation center where the basketball and volleyball teams will play.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Cla-Zel will become venue for live music
By DAVID DUPONT Sentinel Arts & Entertainment Editor
Posted on BG-Sentinel website 12-6-2007

The marquee on the Cla-Zel in downtown Bowling Green will be ablaze again.
A group of investors CLA-ZEL Encore has purchased the movie theater from the community corporation that has owned it since 2000.

Andy Halleck and Tony Dishop, two of the new owners, said they are planning to convert the movie theater into a bar and venue for live music.
“We plan to create an upscale entertainment facility here,” Halleck said.
The idea, Dishop said, is to appeal to baby boomers, especially 30-somethings like themselves who have few entertainment options in town now and who have fond memories of going to movies at the Cla-Zel.
Dishop said he saw his first movie, “Star Wars,” here.
Halleck remembers going out on his first date with his wife Deena (Roe) when they were in ninth grade.

For them seeing the building sit idle has been hard.
“We’ve just been watching it go down hill,” he said. “I’ve been driving by it for years thinking something should be done.”
CLA-ZEL Encore paid $275,000 to Cla-Zel LLC for the theater. That group has tried in vain to generate community support to revive the theater as a community arts center. It stopped showing films regularly in spring, 2005, after several years of losing money. Since, it has been used sporadically mostly for class reunions, the Black Swamp Arts Festival and university events.

“The building was just sitting, deteriorating,” said Richard Newlove, the president of Cla-Zel LLC. In addition to the purchase price the group invested thousands more in trying to maintain the theater.
Cla-Zel LLC paid $240,000 in 2000 to buy the 80-year-old theater, which was designed by Jack Raney, after it was learned a church group was interested in buying it. Downtown businesses were concerned at the time about losing the theater as a daily operation.

The initial community support for the project to make it into a community arts venue was strong, Newlove said. But it faded over time.
“Nobody came to the movies, nobody came to the performances,” said Floyd Craft, one of the original Cla-Zel investors. “It was the same few people every time.” The investors, he said, were thankful for their support.
Now “I’m hopeful that it’s an asset to the community,” he said.
Halleck expects some people may object to the new owners’ plans. But he said the group has worked hard to put together a plan that fits the building. They took three months, he said, to get the financing all arranged.
And the new owners plan to maintain as much of the look of the building as possible, including maintaining the deteriorating marquee, Halleck said.
They plan to make significant investment into the building and plan to open for business in mid-July, 2008, he said. “There’s a tremendous amount of work.”

Inside handicapped accessible rest rooms need to be installed. The wall between the theater and the lobby will be removed, though the concessions counter will be retained. Upstairs the screening room, balcony and a storage room will be converted into a room to host small receptions and meetings.
The owners will draw on local restaurants to cater those events since the theater will not have kitchen facilities.
Halleck said the plan was to have jazz and blues featured earlier in the night, drawing on talents from Bowling Green State University. They plan to purchase a grand piano, Halleck said.

Later at night, the venue will host shows by national touring artists, the type of act that makes the fair circuit in the summer, he said. He plans for a minimum of two such performances a month. A night featuring local bands is also a possibility.
Opening as a brew pub would be one way for securing a liquor license, Halleck said, but the owners are exploring other options as well.

[ddp]

For what it's worth...

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2007/12/06/Toledo.ART_ART_12-06-07_A1_HF8M4C8.html

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[ilovetoledo]

That was a great article from the Columbus Dispatch promoting Toledo!

[Pilliod Njaim]

^They were pretty nice on Toledo compared to the other cities. I loved that whole series. Bravo for that well-researched and grimly accurate portrayal of Ohio's cities, including "thriving" (annexing) Columbus.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

$10M+ hotel to locate in
Fallen Timbers Business Park
Posted on Toledo Business Journal website 12-2007 Edition

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/FallenTimbersstaybridge12-10-2007.jpg

Construction has begun on a Staybridge Suites extended stay hotel near The Shops at Fallen Timbers in Maumee. Fargo, North Dakota-based Tharaldson Development is the owner of the hotel and is working with General Growth Properties, Inc. (GGP), developer of The Shops at Fallen Timbers. According to Jared Schillinger, land acquisitions for Tharaldson, the hotel will be finished around August.

The hotel will be located in the new Fallen Timbers Business Park. Owned by Tom Duvall, the development includes the 0.33-mile long Choctaw Drive with concrete curbs and gutters, storm and sanitary sewers, and waterlines. The business park will be on 20 acres south of The Shops at Fallen Timbers and across Russell Road. It will have two four-story buildings with 208,000 square feet of offices, a bank, and the Staybridge Suites hotel.

Jerry W. Malek, CCIM, Michael Realty Company is the exclusive commercial real estate representative for the business park.

“With the completion of Choctaw Drive as well as its infrastructure, we are excited about the future of the Fallen Timbers Business Park,” Malek stated. “Its proximity to US 24 and I-475 / US 23 and flexible lot sizes ranging from 1.5 to 2.5 acres will draw a great mix of businesses.”

Schillinger explained that the hotel site selection was strongly influenced by the new mall. “We like high density population areas, and we like [locating near] new retail with freeway visibility,” he stated.

Industry sources advise that the project investment will be approximately $10 to $15 million. The four-story hotel will include 117 rooms and 110,000 square feet. It will be designed similarly to existing Staybridge Hotels.

A new feature recently launched by the Staybridge Suites brand is free “Wireless Anywhere.” The hotels offer wireless Internet access that is available anywhere on their premises.

“We want our guests to be comfortable wherever they choose to access the Internet during their stay,” stated Robert Radomski, vice president, brand management, Staybridge Suites. “Many of our guests enjoy wireless Internet access at home, so why should they be limited at their home-away-from-home?”

Additionally, Staybridge Suites recently unveiled a new design of the buffet area for its hotels. The redesign will open the wall between the great room and the buffet area, and stools will surround a bar-height, granite-topped island.

“We’ve found through customer research that travelers feel more comfortable in hotel public space that is comparable to the layout of their own home,” added Radomski. “Opening the buffet area to the Staybridge Suites great room while adding an island for seating and conversation is intended for our guests to feel as comfortable as they would in the kitchen of a family member or friend.”

Upgrades such as pendant lighting and stone wall accents in the buffet area will also be part of the new design.

Similar to the “Wireless Anywhere” feature, the new design is intended to provide additional community space in the public areas inviting guests to spend time outside their suites. Bar height tables in the great room, wall-mounted televisions, and a community bulletin board featuring hotel activities are designed to increase guest interaction.

Part of the brand’s latest prototype design, the buffet area enhancements are expected to launch at several of the brand’s hotels this fall and winter.

Staybridge Suites amenities also include three suite types with fully equipped kitchens, a 24-hour convenience store, complimentary 24-hour business center with high-speed Internet access, complimentary guest laundry room, complimentary daily breakfast buffet, and evening Sundowner receptions three days a week.

Staybridge Suites entered the extended-stay market in December 1998 when its headquarters opened in Alpharetta, Georgia. More than 100 Staybridge Suites hotels are currently open and more than 100 are under development.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Schindler’s Holland consolidation to add 80 jobs
Posted on Toledo Business Journal website 12-2007 Edition


Schindler Elevator Corporation (SEC) plans to consolidate its Sidney, Ohio and Morristown, New Jersey operations into the 116,000 square foot Holland, Ohio plant that it currently owns.

“[Schindler] has announced plans to strengthen its service business by consolidating operations into its Center for Service Excellence (CSE) in Holland,” a Schindler corporate communications representative explained. “As part of a strategic improvement, [Schindler is] transferring certain functions from Sidney and Morristown into Holland.”

For example, the Schindler Customer Service Network (SCSN) and Service Engineering (SE) operations currently located in Morristown will move to Holland. These operations will be consolidated into Holland’s existing SCSN and SE operations. Additionally, all operations at the Sidney plant will be integrated into Holland, including PC board repair and SE jobs.

SEC plans to expand in Holland and invest in new building renovations; on-site infrastructure; and new machinery, equipment, furniture, and fixtures. According to the company, the Holland facility is a high-tech after-market service facility where considerable research and development and technical field support solutions will be headquartered.

Ohio was in competition with other states for this more than $4 million project, which is expected to create 80 jobs and retain 176 positions at the site. The company anticipates that employees from Morristown and Sidney will be moving to Holland as a result of the consolidation; Schindler’s total employee headcount in the US will remain at approximately 6,100 people.

According to Schindler, specific information regarding additional machinery and equipment has not yet been established. However, plans are in place to continue growth at the Holland facility over the next several years, and machinery and equipment will be added as it is needed.

For the consolidation, Schindler has been awarded a 55% tax credit for an eight-year term estimated at $527,137. According to officials at the Lucas County Improvement Corporation (LCIC), the former head of the organization, Shawn Ferguson, was instrumental in assisting Schindler with its investment.

“The CSE was established in 2002 after the internal merger of Millar Elevator Service Company into Schindler,” added Schindler’s corporate communication representative. The site “was chosen because, with minimal site adjustments, this existing facility is large enough to accommodate all the anticipated expansions that we have for people in operations. The facility has a legacy of technical elevator and escalator expertise that stretches back to the late 19th century. Schindler feels that, with the history [in Holland], the existing building, and the facilities, that it’s an excellent base for their enhanced operations.”

According to Schindler, it is initiating these changes to strengthen its market competitiveness by improving service delivery levels and customer satisfaction.

The transition of these service functions will be completed by mid-year.

Founded in 1874 in Lucerne, Switzerland by precision engineer Robert Schindler, SEC is the North American operating entity of the Swiss-based Schindler Group, an elevator company and escalator supplier. Schindler’s US operations were established in Toledo in 1979. It moved to Morristown, New Jersey, its current US headquarters, upon acquisition of the elevator and escalator business of Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1989. In 1990, Schindler formed the Millar Elevator Service Company, the first nationwide company specializing in service and modernization of all brands, according to the company. In 2002, Schindler and Millar consolidated operations. SEC currently employs approximately 6,100 full-time people in more than 250 locations in North America.

Schindler manufactures, installs, services, and modernizes internal transport systems for a range of building requirements worldwide. According to the company, it also provides latest-technology engineering as well as mechanical and micro-technology products.

Schindler products can be found in many well-known buildings throughout North America, including office buildings, airports, shopping centers / retail establishments, and specialty buildings. For example, it provided a total of 22 escalators and 19 elevators to the $360 million, 1.2 million square foot Short Pump Town Center’s main structure and five anchor stores in Richmond, Virginia. Short Pump is a two-level, open-air regional mall.

Additionally, Schindler has provided service for The White House (Washington, D.C.), Rockefeller Center (New York, New York), Sears Tower (Chicago, Illinois), and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Cleveland, Ohio).

[Bonjourtoledo]

New investment being placed in Sandusky Co.
Posted on Toledo Business Journal website 12-2007 Edition

Fisher & Paykel and KF Ventures initiate new projects

The expansion of two businesses in Sandusky County is resulting in new investment and new jobs for the region. One project involves a company that was originally attracted to Sandusky from overseas, and the other project involves a long-established local company that is providing an opportunity for future growth in the area.

Fisher & Paykel Laundry Manufacturing, Inc. (F&P)
Fisher & Paykel Laundry Manufacturing, Inc. (F&P), an Australia-based firm, began an expansion in October at its Clyde manufacturing plant. The project has an estimated investment of more than $1 million and is expected to create several additional full-time jobs at the facility. According to the company, the project will increase the size of the facility from 105,000 square feet to 135,000 square feet and be completed by the end of February.

The F&P plant was established in Clyde approximately two years ago. The original $30.7 million project included the relocation of the company’s Australian manufacturing plant to the new northwest Ohio facility, which was the company’s first manufacturing operation in the United States. According to Kay Reiter, executive director of the Sandusky County Economic Development Corporation, Fisher & Paykel was also the first Australia-based firm to relocate to the state of Ohio.

The company manufactures its products for the US market at the Clyde facility. The plant has been set up to be a contract manufacturer of both washers and motors for washers.

F&P leased the 105,000 square foot facility, which is owned by a key Sandusky County developer, Tom Kern. According to Michael Jay, economic development director, City of Fremont, Kern and his family own KF Ventures, Ltd.; Style Crest Logistics, Inc.; Poly-Foam International, Inc.; KMH Properties; and several other companies in northwest Ohio.

Kern’s KMH Properties owns the F&P facility and is partnering with Janotta & Herner, Inc., which will serve as general contractor for the current project.

“Tom Kern has made some very large investments in buildings and sites throughout our county that give us availabilities for potential leads that come into our community, such as Fisher & Paykel’s project that came to us in 2005,” Reiter explained. “The work that he has done with his companies has made us stand out as a community when we look at having availabilities for potential leads. I have to give him a lot of credit for the money and the time he has engaged in our county when it comes to the buildings and sites. He’s a strong leader in that area.”

Reiter added that incentives from Sandusky County were a key factor in F&P’s decision to locate in northwest Ohio. She stated, “Because the City of Clyde owns its own electric utility services, it was able to give Fisher & Paykel discounts on the first five years it was in business… To be able to offer that [discount] as part of the incentives package, made a huge difference for them.”

The City of Clyde also committed to providing local support for the project with two electrical transformers through the city’s electrical department.

Sandusky County was in competition with Mexico and a site in the southern United States for the project. “For us to be able to bring home an international company like this to a rural community such as Clyde was a huge success – not just for Sandusky County economic development, but for the City of Clyde… They are very flexible people to work with and very business-like. It has been an excellent addition to our business community.”

As a result of the project two years ago, F&P committed to creating 118 new full-time jobs in Sandusky County within the first three years of the project’s initial operations. The average wage is $14 per hour plus an additional $5.60 per hour in benefits.

According to Bruce Green, F&P operations manager, the company’s decision to expand in Clyde proves that the company is pleased with the location of its Sandusky County plant and that the business is always looking to expand and grow.

“The current expansion is purely for warehousing at this stage,” he explained. “There’s no additional machinery or equipment going in at this stage. We’re expanding the warehouse, which will become a storage facility for raw materials and incoming components. We’re expanding the office, because we have outgrown it. The office will include a boardroom, a slightly larger cafeteria for the staff, and more office / desk space with a couple of extra meeting rooms.”

Green added that the warehouse and factory expansion is needed to accommodate plans to bring a new dryer line into the plant in addition to the initial washer line. Approximately $900,000 of the more than $1 million investment will be used toward the construction of the factory, and about $160,000 will be used for the office expansion.

KF Ventures, Ltd.
Construction has also begun recently on a new Fremont, Ohio warehouse, which is also being developed by Kern, general manager of KF Ventures, Ltd., and his family. KF Ventures is also partnering with Janotta & Herner, Inc., which will serve as general contractor for the project.

KF Ventures, founded in 1995, is a development company that operates in the residential, industrial, and commercial sectors. It has residential subdivisions in Clyde and Fremont, Ohio as well as other commercial and industrial property in the area. The company primarily operates in Huron, Erie, Ottawa, and Sandusky Counties.

KF Ventures’ current 126,000 square foot warehouse project began on Enterprise Street in early October. The company purchased the site several years ago but had not begun developing the property until recently. The company expects construction to exceed a $3 million investment and be completed by early March.

When the property was initially purchased, Kern “was looking at this pad developed at Fremont North Industrial Park along a railroad track and right in front of his corporate headquarters,” Jay stated. “He was going to put a building up there, and he had a prospect on hand. But, for the first time in my 16 years here with the City, there were some political issues that caused the prospect to go away. So, that’s why the project was put on hold. Then the economy flattened out like it has. Now, the opportunity is there for KF Ventures to build the 126,000 square foot facility.”

According to Michelle Bishop, KF Ventures operating manager and Kern’s daughter, the site’s benefits include close vicinity to railroads and the Ohio Turnpike. The facility “can be built out with a rail site,” she explained. “But, we’re not planning to put that in right now.”

State Routes 53, 20 and 6 are also adjacent to the project site.

“The location and the ability to get in and out of the Fremont North Industrial Park for this site is very good,” Jay stated. “Fortunately, our workforce here, like a lot of northwest Ohio communities, is very strong. So, when you put all [the benefits] together, it just made sense for [the site to be chosen]. Plus, [KF Ventures’] business is growing and expanding; they are running out of room in their other facilities. So, it’s good for them that they are putting up another facility to warehouse products, but it’s also good for the community, because it’s another building we have available to market.”

Jay added that KF Ventures is going to build the facility, and Style Crest Logistics will be the initial building tenant. “Years ago, when [KF Ventures] started in the 1990s, they would build spec buildings to try to attract new businesses into our community to either lease or sell the buildings,” he stated. “In the meantime, what made this [method] work for them is [the company’s] warehousing and logistics business. So, the building is not just sitting there empty; they use it as we try to promote the building and sell or lease it to prospects. Some communities might put up a spec building that just sits there vacant with no revenues being generated to help pay for it. Well, the magic formula that Tom Kern has worked out over the years is to use that building for warehousing, distribution, and logistics to help pay for it until we find a prospect that can use the building.”

[Bonjourtoledo]

Groundbreaking celebration for new athletics complex, Savage Hall renovation project
By Paul Helgren Posted on UT website Dec 10, 2007

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/Decker9999/UTSavage12-10-2007.jpg

The Center Court Celebration commemorating the beginning of construction of a new athletic complex and renovations to John F. Savage Hall will take place Wednesday, Dec. 12, at 10 a.m. in Savage Hall on Main Campus.

UT President Lloyd Jacobs, Athletic Director Mike O’Brien, donors Chuck and Jackie Sullivan, and Rocket student-athletes will lead the countdown to the kickoff of Savage Hall construction.

Plans for the project, which were designed by architectural firms SSOE Inc. and Ellerbe Becket, include a new seating configuration in the arena, improved fan amenities, new locker rooms and offices, new suites and loges, a new video scoreboard and sound system, as well as a beautiful new glass atrium lobby to be built on the west side of Savage Hall. The second phase of the project will include an indoor practice facility located between Savage Hall and the UT Track.

Savage Hall, formerly Centennial Hall, opened in 1976. In July 1988, The University of Toledo Board of Trustees voted to rename the building John F. Savage Hall. Savage, a 1952 UT graduate, was instrumental in the campaign to raise funds for the arena, as well as the Glass Bowl Renovation Project. He died in 1993.

“The Savage Hall renovation is going to be a tremendous shot in the arm for our program,” said Head Men’s Basketball Coach Stan Joplin. “It should move our basketball arena into the upper echelon of facilities in the Midwest and really be a big boost for our recruiting efforts.”

“The renovation means that our facilities won’t take a backseat to any one in our conference or around the Midwest,” said Head Women’s Basketball Coach Mark Ehlen. “It will certainly help our recruiting efforts, as well as our ability to get the most out of our student-athletes. I know our fans will love it, as well.”

“I’m very excited about the Savage Hall renovation and what it means for the University, Athletic Department and our program,” said Head Women’s Volleyball Coach Kent Miller. “We’ll now be playing in one of the premier facilities in our conference and the Midwest. This renovation moves Savage Hall up to the high standards that our university possesses. Having the chance to compete in a great venue will be a tremendous benefit for our current student-athletes as well as our future recruits.”

[ilovetoledo]

SOUTH TOLEDO -- The City of Toledo moved another step forward on Monday to acquire more than 11 acres of the Southwyck Mall property, reports News 11's Rob Wiercinski.

Toledo City Council's agenda for Tuesday includes discussing the plan to buy the former Dillard's store and a portion of the Southwyck Mall parking lot. Terms were unveiled during a committee meeting on Monday.

Now the big question is: Will council say "yes" or "no" to this proposal? The Finkbeiner administration informed council that an agreement in principle has been reached with developer Larry Dillin for acquiring a portion of the Southwyck Mall property.

If approved by council, the city will buy 11.5 acres for $1 million, and it will use $1.5 million from a revolving loan program for environmental clean-up of the former Dillard's store. Then the city would sell to Dillin Corp.

"Upon completion of the remediation or removal of the asbestos, within 30 days we'll close on the property with Dillin, so then it'll turn over to him, he'll reimburse everything," said Jennifer Johnson, the City of Toledo's real estate manager.

Some council members are wondering why the city needs to play the role of middle man; they worry about tax dollars being at risk.

"But fixing it up and turning around and selling it to another private developer -- if that's the case we should do it for everybody, not just for one person, but we can't do it," Mike Ashford, Toledo City Council president.

According to those supporting the plan, it's all about timing.

"That's the sole reason we got involved in the first place is to try to move the thing forward faster and keep everybody's feet to the fire," said Councilman Mark Sobczak.

Even if this deal moves forward, there are a few more hurdles to clear for the Southwyck overhaul. That includes Larry Dillin coming to terms with the other two mall property owners, and working out a tax increment financing agreement with the Port Authority to pay for acquisition, site prep and demolition work.

The first step is a council vote, set for Tuesday.

[Bonjourtoledo]

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[Bonjourtoledo]

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[Bonjourtoledo]

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[Bonjourtoledo]

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[Bonjourtoledo]

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[cjfjapan]

$7.8M in aid approved for Southwyck
Council OKs plan 10-1; Ashford says it's unwise
By IGNAZIO MESSINA BLADE STAFF WRITER


Toledo City Council last night approved a plan that dedicates $7.8 million in taxpayer money toward developer Larry Dillin's effort to redevelop the nearly empty Southwyck Shopping Center.

The deal includes purchasing the vacant Dillard's store and its parking lot for nearly $1.1 million and selling it to Mr. Dillin for the same price.......


So, what was all the huffing and puffing in the last two weeks on all the television outlets about this "not being a done deal" etc etc...are they that desperate and needy for viewers?

[Bonjourtoledo]

So, what was all the huffing and puffing in the last two weeks on all the television outlets about this "not being a done deal" etc etc...are they that desperate and needy for viewers?

Yeppers.

[Bonjourtoledo]

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[toledo25]

Yeah well National Amusements has a monopoly on toledo. Why can't we get a AMC or Lowes theater here?! With theater attendance down so much in recent years I would love to see a "new" experience for the movies. Much more about the "experience" so that you feel your $10.50 was well spent.

[Pilliod Njaim]

^Or better yet, how about a movie theater downtown. Tearing down the Paramount (once one of the largest theaters in the country outside of New York and LA) was one of the biggest mistakes in Toledo history, and that surface lot is the CBD's worst. Man, I'd kill to have been able to go to one movie at the Paramount.

I know the suburban megaplex is king today, but the urban theaters of yesteryear were so much classier. Damn suburbanization. Regardless, movie prices in the Toledo market are amongst the highest in the country, and it's all due to the National Amusements monopoly. Someone else does need to enter the market.

[Mudhen419]

Yea would be nice to see somethin like Tower City in Cleveland be put in downtown.wish we had the rails to for a rapid transit system as well

[ilovetoledo]

honestly, at this time, Downtown Toledo is in no shape ready for a movie theater. Plus who would go downtown to see a movie. people in perrysburg go to levis commons, people in maumee go to maumee, people in anthony w. go to fallen timbers, people in oregon go to the movie theather at the mall, people in south toledo go to the one in maumee, the people in west toledo go to the one at the mall. honestly no one would go downtown for a movie until the residential population reaches its climax (we are getting there just not yet). I think an IMAX theather downtown/marina district would really draw people down there.

[Mudhen419]

No one goes to the woodville mall to see a movie.... i bet the sundance gets more patrons in the few months that they are open thenwhat woodville gets all year..... i bet if they went thru with the old idea of showin movies at 5th 3rd field in the warmer months that it would be a sucess....

[toledo25]

I wish National Amusements hadnt run AMC out of the city back in the 90's. *sigh*

How about this snow, ehe?

[Pilliod Njaim]

No one goes to the woodville mall to see a movie.

That was how it was when I lived in the area. Granted, it's been four years since I've lived in the Toledo area, but I remember Woodville sucking all the way back then. It was as about as dead as Southwyck.

honestly, at this time, Downtown Toledo is in no shape ready for a movie theater.

I think it could handle a theater. If the downtown theater in Maumee works, a theater in downtown Toledo should. Obviously, I didn't mean a BIG theater or megaplex, just a nice one or two-screen place. There's enough population to probably support that. Toledo needs more venues for indie and art films. Downtown would make sense for that, and of course an IMAX theater would be nice too.

i bet if they went thru with the old idea of showin movies at 5th 3rd field in the warmer months that it would be a sucess

Wait, they never did that? I thought that was a great idea for families. Maybe one night a week, you could sit on the grass and take in a movie. Why'd they scrap those plans?

I wish National Amusements hadnt run AMC out of the city back in the 90's.

And that was of course when ticket prices sky-rocketed. Granted, part of that was due to Showcase Maumee in 1997, which was one of the largest theaters in Ohio at the time, but the increase was more than it needed to be to cover the construction costs. Toledo was the first American city I ever payed more than $7.50 to see a movie.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Yea would be nice to see somethin like Tower City in Cleveland be put in downtown.wish we had the rails to for a rapid transit system as well

Science Technology Corridor is something that would be similar for Toledo.http://tmacog.org/Transportation/Regional%20core/regional_core_circulator_study.htm

[Bonjourtoledo]

honestly, at this time, Downtown Toledo is in no shape ready for a movie theater. Plus who would go downtown to see a movie. people in perrysburg go to levis commons, people in maumee go to maumee, people in anthony w. go to fallen timbers, people in oregon go to the movie theather at the mall, people in south toledo go to the one in maumee, the people in west toledo go to the one at the mall. honestly no one would go downtown for a movie until the residential population reaches its climax (we are getting there just not yet). I think an IMAX theather downtown/marina district would really draw people down there.

Downtown location is more ideal as more of a regional level draw such as convention, baseball field, arena, etc instead of a suburbia/local level. IMAX theatre is the answer and it would be perfect to replace COSi at Portside Marketplace or build it at the Marina District.

[Bonjourtoledo]

No one goes to the woodville mall to see a movie.... i bet the sundance gets more patrons in the few months that they are open thenwhat woodville gets all year..... i bet if they went thru with the old idea of showin movies at 5th 3rd field in the warmer months that it would be a sucess....

If no one goes to the movie at Woodville Mall then explain to me why they are still open? Something tells me they are doing fine in business because if they aren't the movie owners are not shy in closing up.

[Bonjourtoledo]

How about this snow, ehe?

Shut up! :lol:

[Bonjourtoledo]

Perrysburg Twp. tax break to create jobs
By CHRIS MILLER Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted on BG-Sentinel Tribune website 12-18-2007

LIME CITY — A planned business expansion promises to bring new jobs to Perrysburg Township.
Westhaven Services LLC, a division of Omnicare Inc., plans a $1.9 million expansion of its Cedar Business Park site that will include $1.5 million in new equipment.

The company provides pharmaceutical care for senior citizens through a nationwide network of more than 100 facilities, including the expanding hub here in Perrysburg Township.

Township trustees Craig LaHote, Bob Mack and Gary Britten on Monday night agreed to grant a 100-percent tax abatement on the $1.9 million real estate improvements.

The property tax abatement will last 10 years under the township’s enterprise zone program.

Wade Gottschalk, associate director of the Wood County Economic Development Commission, told the trustees the expansion will preserve 250 existing jobs and bring another 75 to the business park along Ohio 795.
Westhaven is part of the Omnicare network of pharmaceutical service providers for senior citizen living centers. The company has 160 pharmacies and serves 47 states plus Canada. Omnicare says it serves about 1.4 million seniors every day.

The company is undergoing a reconfiguration of its existing network to increase efficiency, and Perrysburg Township’s facility is expanding and upgrading to cover a larger service area.

Part of the expansion project includes the addition of new automated equipment at the Cedar Business Park facility.
“We’ll be a regional hub pharmacy,” explained Rolf Schrader, regional vice president for Omnicare.

He said the company plans to add 75 jobs within the next 12 months which will represent $2.5 million in new payroll. Positions being sought will include pharmacists and medical technicians.

The Westhaven facility has been in Cedar Business Park since the early 1990s.
In other township news Monday night, the trustees agreed to renew the township’s membership in the Wood County Economic Development Commission at a cost of $1,500. LaHote noted the commission continues to provide valuable assistance in preserving jobs and bringing new employment to the township.

[Bonjourtoledo]

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[Bonjourtoledo]

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[Bonjourtoledo]

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[Bonjourtoledo]

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[Bonjourtoledo]

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[Bonjourtoledo]

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Chinese explore business opportunities in Toledo area
By Duane Ramsey
Toledo Free Press Staff Writer
news@toledofreepress.com

A delegation of business leaders from the Qinhuangdao (China) Chamber of Commerce visited Toledo Dec. 10 and 11 to investigate opportunities for doing business and making investments in Northwest Ohio. Qinhuangdao is an International Sister City of Toledo.

Toledo City Councilman Mark Sobczak and Lucas County Commissioner Ben Konop welcomed the Chinese delegation. Sobczak represented Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner as chairman of the Toledo City Council Economic Development Committee.

The Chinese group was familiar to Konop, who traveled to Qinhuangdao earlier this year.

“Lucas County is eager to be partners with you in business to bring your investments here and create jobs,” Konop said. “There can be many mutual benefits for our community and yours.”

The key to the business partnership is the personal relationships the cities develop between each other because the Chinese value such things highly, Konop said. The relationship of the Sister City bond puts Toledo in a better position to take advantage of those relationships, he said.

A delegation that included businesspeople, teachers and a youth orchestra, among others, traveled to China in the spring to represent the area.

Mark V'Soske, president of the Toledo Regional Chamber of the Chamber, made the opening presentation to the Chinese delegation. He outlined the mission, programs and services of the local chamber for guests.

V'Soske was quick to point out the chamber already has an International Trade Assistance Center established to help foreign companies do business in this region. It also has a Small Business Development Center that helps new businesses get started and existing ones grow.

Jim Hartung, president and CEO of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, said his organization is a public agency that acts like a business. It provides services to clients that are private businesses with facilities on property owned by the Port Authority.

Jim Mettler, vice president of development for the Port Authority, outlined the transportation assets of the area that include two airports, a seaport, railroads and interstate highways.

The Port Authority has 700 acres around Toledo Express Airport with its 10,000-foot runway that are being prepared for development. It has another 100 acres for development around Metcalf Field, a small general aviation airport.

The Chinese delegation seemed most interested in a 218-acre parcel of riverfront property the Port Authority is close to purchasing. The former Chevron refinery site located along the Maumee River and Front Street is part of 750 acres the Port Authority will own on the river.

The Chinese business leaders are seeking a site for a possible trade and distribution center they hope to build in the Toledo area. They asked about energy and transportation costs as well as possible incentives for such a development.

Konop said local focus should be to encourage and facilitate joint investment with the Chinese to create jobs and business here. He said he's only in favor of incentives if such partnerships exist with local firms.

“We understand the role China plays in the global market and we want cities like Qinhuangdao working to do business with the Toledo area,” Hartung said.

“Economic development is a team sport,” he said, citing the need for cooperation among local government and economic development agencies.

Huanxin Bai, executive vice director of the Qinhuangdao Chamber and vice president of the city's Industry and Commerce Association, wants to begin trade exchange with American business in culture, education, health care and technology. The Qinhuangdao Chamber wants to establish a platform of exchange with businesses in Toledo.

“We have lots to learn from American business,” Bai said through an interpreter.

Bai also invited Toledo Chamber members to Qinhuangdao next spring. V'Soske said the feasibility of such a visit will be explored.

The Qinhuangdao Chamber of Commerce represents 3,500 private businesses in the city with a population of 2.8 million people. Bai said state-owned companies there are excluded from his organization.

The Qinhuangdao Chamber fights for the rights of its members with the government. It also provides education, training and a platform for exchange of ideas and information among its members.

Wang Yuchen, president of Huadun Real Estate Development Company and vice director of the Qinhuangdao Chamber, wants to develop trade centers in Qinhuangdao and Toledo that would allow as many as 500 Chinese merchants to bring as much as $300 million in business here with $20 billion in potential sales.

Yuchen said the Qinhuangdao Chamber needs the help of its Toledo counterpart to establish a merchant trade center in Northwest Ohio for the importing and exporting of products.

Yuchen said he wants to bring as many as 2,000 Chinese people to the United States to share their knowledge and technology. Those people would undergo educational training for Chinese businesses locating here.

V'Soske emphasized the potential opportunities for educational exchanges with the establishment of the Yanshan University campus at UT and plans for having a UT campus at Yanshan in Qinhuangdao.

Hou Guangrong, a Qinhuangdao Chamber board member and president of Zhongrong Solar Energy Company, was anxious to meet with representatives of local solar energy companies. His company already makes solar products for lighting and saving energy based on a government directive for residents to use solar energy.

Guangrong said 50 percent of his company's production is for residential purposes with the other half for commercial projects using ISO worldwide industry standards. The company is also combining solar and wind energy to produce cleaner energy in China.

Li Futing, president of Qinhuangdao Mengqi Cement Products Company, said he is seeking business opportunities for his company that makes concrete used in construction of buildings and decorative products to beautify buildings in China, and hopefully in Toledo and other U.S. cities one day.

Following lunch at the Toledo Club with local business and community leaders, the Chinese delegation attended a legal seminar about immigration. They later met with business and industry representatives in their fields from the Toledo area, including solar and alternative energy companies.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Toledo Finds the Energy
To Reinvent Itself
By JIM CARLTON Wall Street Journal website
December 18, 2007

TOLEDO, Ohio -- This city became famous in the last century for being one of North America's leading glass centers. The industry has been in decline since the 1980s, but Toledo hopes to be known for its glass again. This time, though, the glass is being coated with thin layers of chemicals to produce ecofriendly "solar cells."

Toledo is among several old-line industrial cities trying to reinvent themselves -- sometimes based on their older industries -- to cash in on the demand for alternative energy. In 2006, solar start-up United Solar Inc. said it would open thin-film factories in Auburn Hills and Greenville, two Michigan towns hit hard by the automotive decline. And last year, a wind-generation plant began construction on the grounds of a shuttered Bethlehem Steel plant in Lackawanna, N.Y.

Industry officials say older industrial cities offer the clean-tech industry some advantages, including less community opposition to new plants. "The good thing about the Rust Belt is they want factories there," says Ron Kenedi, vice president of Sharp Corp.'s Solar Energy Solutions Group, which is based in Huntington Beach, Calif.

Recently, Norm Johnston, a former executive at Toledo glass companies, showed how Solar Fields LLC, a start-up he runs, was leveraging the old glass industry. Walking to the back of a 22,000-square-foot former machine shop in the nearby suburb of Perrysburg, he patted the blue metal casing on a 100-foot-long production line, which his company has designed to coat sheets of glass heated to more than 1,100 degrees with chemicals to make solar cells.

There is similar activity at several other sites in this metropolitan area of 600,000. Companies from Phoenix-based First Solar Inc. to Xunlight Corp. are opening factories in and around Toledo to create electricity-producing "thin-film" solar panels on glass and other materials. While not rated as efficient as the more prevalent silicon-based solar cells, thin film has taken off in the last year because of soaring demand for alternative energy and a world-wide silicon shortage. It is also cheaper to make than silicon cells.

In addition to First Solar, which in 1999 built a factory in Perrysburg that now employs about 600, the University of Toledo is receiving state grants to expand its solar research and incubate thin-film spinoffs. So far, the university has incubated four solar start-ups, including Solar Fields, Xunlight, Innovative Thin Films Ltd. and Advanced Distributed Generation LLC. Toledo's Regional Growth Partnership, a nonprofit economic development group, is also using state grants to help fund solar and other alternative energy start-ups.

"I think alternative energy is one of the major hopes for northwest Ohio," says John Szuch, chairman of Fifth Third Bank of Northwestern Ohio.

In Toledo, the repercussions of the new solar activity are already being felt. Pilkington North America Inc., a Toledo-based unit of Japan's Nippon Sheet Glass Co., has become a major supplier to First Solar, offsetting some of the business it lost in the traditional glass industry. Pilkington officials estimate thin-film sales have grown to about 10% of revenue for its American building products division, prompting the company to beef up a research division that had been undergoing cuts. "It's the biggest thing going for us right now in terms of glass," says Todd Huffman, vice president of strategic planning for Pilkington.

But clean tech isn't necessarily a panacea. Only about 5,000 solar jobs have been created in the last five years in Toledo. Meanwhile, the number of manufacturing jobs lost since the 1980s is in the tens of thousands.

Cities like Toledo may also have trouble competing with domestic clean-tech hot spots like Silicon Valley, which are in closer proximity to venture capital sources. In addition, Toledo is competing against cheaper overseas locales. First Solar, for instance, is building four manufacturing plants in Malaysia. Company officials say the Perrysburg plant remains "critical" to the firm's future success.

Still, Toledo has come a long way. Stricken by manufacturing declines in the automotive and other big glass-consuming sectors, the city has been in an economic malaise for much of two decades. Its population loss in the 1990s was one of the fastest in the U.S.

Toledo acquired its Glass City moniker because of a long history of innovation in all aspects of the glass business. Owens-Illinois, Owens Corning, Glasstech and Tempglass have extensive ties here. As the traditional glass industry slowed, executives explored other uses for the material.

In 1989, local inventor and glass entrepreneur Harold McMaster invested some of his millions to launch one of the city's first solar start-ups. "He knew that sooner or later we would have to come up with a clean source of energy," says Alan McMaster, son of the now-deceased Mr. McMaster, an icon in the industry. Mr. McMaster's company, Glasstech Solar, became Solar Cells Inc., with research facilities at the University of Toledo and in a nearby city. In 1999, Solar Cells was acquired by a private-equity firm and became First Solar.

At the time, there was little demand in the thin-film industry. In 2002, British oil giant BP PLC pulled the plug on two thin-film plants it had had in the works for more than 10 years, amid issues including technical problems, according to a January report by the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

But rising energy costs and other events -- including the blackout in the Northeast in August 2003 -- brought thin-film and other alternative energies back into favor. "We said, 'There's a business opportunity here if we had solar'," recalls Solar Fields's Mr. Johnston. The university boosted its emphasis on thin-film research in 2001, and this year it shared in an $18.6 million state grant to fund the solar industry.

The school is now using the money to beef up solar research in its McMaster Hall, where some labs have been packed with equipment like a magnetron gun, which is used to spray thin-film chemicals on glass and other surfaces.

Civic leaders in Toledo now say they have the ingredients in place to turn solar into a thriving industry. In a seafood restaurant overlooking the Maumee River one recent evening, business and academic leaders discussed the city's rising solar industry and traced back its roots. "How in the hell would we be in this business in the first place if it weren't for glass?" asked Harlan Reichle, a local real-estate executive.

[toledo25]

Busy day of updates! w00t Thanks Bonjour! :)

I envision Toledo as the new "GREEN" City of the U.S. so much potential here with the water, rails and land we have that can be used to make reusable energy and other enviromentally safe(r) products and solutions.

[ilovetoledo]

now, the problem is getting the industry going and creating more jobs for this area. and hopefully this could revive our downtown also?? in the aspect of more jobs being placed downtown!!

[Pilliod Njaim]

^If one of these solar companies gets huge (quite likely), there is of course the chance they'll headquarter in a large office building downtown. Right now, there are between 5,000 and 10,000 solar-related jobs in metro Toledo. It's a growing industry and will help offset auto-related losses.

It's great to see national attention like this for the Glass City. First Newsweek, and now the Wall Street Journal

[Bonjourtoledo]

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[Bonjourtoledo]

It's time for an IMAX Theatre or restore the retail mall at Portside Marketplace.

[Bonjourtoledo]

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[Bonjourtoledo]

^If one of these solar companies gets huge (quite likely), there is of course the chance they'll headquarter in a large office building downtown. Right now, there are between 5,000 and 10,000 solar-related jobs in metro Toledo. It's a growing industry and will help offset auto-related losses.

It's great to see national attention like this for the Glass City. First Newsweek, and now the Wall Street Journal

I hear that Hytower Building on St. Clair & Jefferson is up for sale for a cool million.

[ilovetoledo]

OK, so if we all want an Imax theater to go in there how do we get them to come here because i know i know that would be a big homerun for downtown Toledo. People would go out to the docks for dinner possibly go to a Mud Hens game or new sports arena event, do a little shopping, and go see a movie. This would literally re-shape the way people think of downtown. I know that this would work and i want it in there so lets try to make this happen.

[ilovetoledo]

I hear that Hytower Building on St. Clair & Jefferson is up for sale for a cool million.

I know that it is up for sale and i dont really want the solar company to go in there i would rather them build a new skyscrapper and add to Toledo's collection but in the same respect i want somebody to take over that building. We need to chew what we have first before we go have 2nds. Toledo has a bright future and if you werent ever interested in Toledo develpements then maybe you should get involved now because we are on the virge a MAJOR economical change.

[Bonjourtoledo]

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[ilovetoledo]

Apparently clock towers are in what about in promanade park????

[4silverrings]

I hear that Hytower Building on St. Clair & Jefferson is up for sale for a cool million.

I know that it is up for sale and i dont really want the solar company to go in there i would rather them build a new skyscrapper and add to Toledo's collection but in the same respect i want somebody to take over that building. We need to chew what we have first before we go have 2nds. Toledo has a bright future and if you werent ever interested in Toledo develpements then maybe you should get involved now because we are on the virge a MAJOR economical change.

A cool million? It's sad, really.

The view of Toledo and Ohio from the outside.

Houses around Toledo sell for more than $1 million.

Let's say that it costs $10 million for renovations (asbestos, aesthetics, and please god do something about THAT parking garage) for 437,500 sq ft of prime office space. From all the rumblings from wanna-be politicians and others about tearing the building down, it almost doesn't make sense for that kind of talk. A structurally sound high rise. Just tear it down?


$1,000,000 / 437,500 sq ft = $2.29 / sq ft

$10,000,000 / 437,500 sq ft = $22.86 / sq ft

Duplex in Metro Toledo - $100,000 / 2400 sq ft = $43.75 / sq ft

Chances are, new home prices in Toledo are closer to the $100 / sq ft range.


Now I know residential and commercial markets are two completely different animals. But there is no company in the world that wants to purchase a skyscraper for $2.29-$22.86 / sq ft?

The laws of supply and demand don't apply in Toledo. I thought if 1/4-1/2 of the office space in downtown Toledo (obviously One Seagate and Hytower count) is vacant, how does the cost to lease not dwindle down to the owners' break-even points?

As for a new skyscraper, let's just focus on filling up what we've got. Then we can stick the next one in between HCR Manor Care and One Seagate.
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f33/mistiray1/Toledo_Skyline_banner.jpg

[nickw311]

I'm not an expert, but I think it would cost substantially more than 10 million to refab that building. Getting rid of the asbestos alone will be an enormous task. Once they get it out, they have to find somewhere to put it - hazardous waste disposal is very expensive.

[cjfjapan]

I'm not an expert, but I think it would cost substantially more than 10 million to refab that building. Getting rid of the asbestos alone will be an enormous task. Once they get it out, they have to find somewhere to put it - hazardous waste disposal is very expensive.

Wasn't the asbestos already removed? Or did I dream that?

[4silverrings]

I'm not an expert, but I think it would cost substantially more than 10 million to refab that building. Getting rid of the asbestos alone will be an enormous task. Once they get it out, they have to find somewhere to put it - hazardous waste disposal is very expensive.

Last I heard it still has asbestos. So I imagine it still does. Unless they've been sneaking it out in the dark of the night.

Hytower/Fiberglas Tower appraised at $4 million.

2007 Blade article says asking price was lowered to $7 million.

For some reason, the RGP wanted it torn down for between $10-12 million (that would be building demolition and disposal).

Another article states that Toledo Trust and the Tower were both sold to Eyde for $4.5 million combined.

Rumors swirled that it would cost $2-$3 million to abate.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

There are the numbers, take what you will. It's not like this would be the first building to have this done.

Even at $20 million, I can't see how the Tower is not a deal compared to other buildings of similar size and age.

The real difficulty is bringing in outside companies to fill the vacancies and not enough homegrown corporations (the companies that first inhabited these structures). Outside companies coming in want to move in and most likely want to rent the space (O-I vacated One Seagate post-lease and O-C vacated the Tower).

If there is a company that commits to the space for a sustained amount of time, there would be no problem getting the building up to speed.

[Pilliod Njaim]

From all the rumblings from wanna-be politicians and others about tearing the building down, it almost doesn't make sense for that kind of talk. A structurally sound high rise. Just tear it down?

Asbestos removal is estimated at $2-3 million dollars. That's not that much money for a building 400 feet tall and nearly 450,000 square feet. The cost of a teardown would be at least $10 million dollars. For $10 million dollars, you can remove all the asbestos in the building and do a fair amount of remodeling as well. It makes absolutely no sense to tear down the tower. Whoever proposed that is insane. Demolition would be paid for by the TAXPAYERS, and you can be damn sure there would be an uproar if Toledo wants to claim fame for the largest demolition in Ohio history. Honestly, most the demolition scare happened when the arena was being proposed, and it was more media fear mongering than an actual realistic option. The tower has asbestos and a few cracked pipes. That's it. It will cost less to fix that than tear down the building. These kind of buildings have been renovated all over the country, and in cities in far worse shape than Toledo.

Wasn't the asbestos already removed? Or did I dream that?

Ufortunately, no, though asbestos HAS been removed from almost all the other buildings downtown. The Fiberglas Tower has a relatively easy asbestos removal considering it's a nearly 450,000 square foot building. It has an open-floor design, and remodeling would not be overly expensive. The problem is in the pipe insulation as I outlined earlier in this thread. It certainly can be done, and I sure as hell hope it will be done. It's a vital building in the skyline and it's a good design considering the era it was built. It also has its own parking garage which is a huge plus for a company wanting to move in there.

Even at $20 million, I can't see how the Tower is not a deal compared to other buildings of similar size and age.

Whoever buys the tower is getting a steal. Its price is listed as negotiable, and for under $3 million, all the asbestos can be removed.

http://www.loopnet.com/xNet/LoopLink/LoopLinks/eyde/searchresults.aspx?SearchType=FL&VIEWSTATEID=994525251&PgCxtGuid=5a4c243b-30a9-423a-afc3-d48b08423261&PgCxtCurFLKey=LooplinkSearchPage&name=eyde&LooplinkRadioButton=FL&ForLeasePropertyType=All+Property+Types&ForLeaseIncludeFullyLeased_Hidden=Y&QryRadioCity=Toledo&ForLeaseLooplinkSubmit=Begin+Search&ReturnTargetUrl=%2fxNet%2fLoopLink%2fLoopLinks%2feyde%2fqryradio.aspx&R_LL_RB=FL&R_QR_C=Toledo&R_FS_PT=All+Property+Types&R_FL_PT=All+Property+Types

I'm not an expert, but I think it would cost substantially more than 10 million to refab that building. Getting rid of the asbestos alone will be an enormous task.

Not really. Asbestos abatement can be done for one fifth the cost of a demolition. Asbestos removal has been done all over the country, and there are plenty of buildings in Toledo that have had it done too.

please god do something about THAT parking garage

The garage is a big selling point for large corporations, and it has space for stores at street level (revolutionary at the time it was built). Corporate workers tend to be commuters, so they'd highly value their own garage adjacent to their building. A lot of people are so lazy, they don't even want to walk one city block. America has a walking problem, not a parking problem.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[4silverrings]

please god do something about THAT parking garage

The garage is a big selling point for large corporations, and it has space for stores at street level (revolutionary at the time it was built). Corporate workers tend to be commuters, so they'd highly value their own garage adjacent to their building. A lot of people are so lazy, they don't even want to walk one city block. America has a walking problem, not a parking problem


I didn't mean tear down the parking garage. Please remodel it. It looks dated well beyond its years, unlike the Tower itself. I assume the structure is basic steel and concrete construction, and the facade is steel paneling (?). With the garage being structurally sound, a modern concrete facade would make the building look light years newer. I'm not a fan of the checkerboard design nor the faux arches. I'm sure all was OK when the Federal building shielded it, but it was never intended to be in a riverfront view of the city.

Maybe if I get some time, I'll whip up a design for what it could look like.

The main office buildings in Toledo all have their own parking garage (One Seagate, National City, Tower).

[Pilliod Njaim]

I'm sure all was OK when the Federal building shielded it, but it was never intended to be in a riverfront view of the city.

Good point, and I think there should be some infill built across the street in the grass field where the Federal Building once stood. If they build something there, it will block the view of the garage and help give Summit Street the "urban canyon effect" that's missing on that block.

Please remodel it.

Well, I'm of the theory that all parking garages are ugly (though of course light years better than city destroying surface lots). I'm sure putting a new facade up wouldn't cost that much money, but the tower needs to have its asbestos removed before anyone should think about putting money into the garage.

Also, did you know that some of the crazy people who talked about tearing down the Fiberglas Tower for the arena project also would have had to tear down the historic Toledo Trust Building as well!? What insanity, especially considering the Toledo Trust Tower has been renovated and is now Riverfront Apartments. Tearing down the Fiberglas Tower was never a real option...

The only realistic options were the current site where the arena is getting built, or the empty grass lot where the Federal Building once stood.

[4silverrings]

Apparently clock towers are in what about in promanade park????

I won't lie. I've never been a big fan of Promenade Park. It has always seem like it was just a "Hey we knocked down the Federal Building, oh now it's a park". I've seen a concept by one of those "Downtown Toledo Development" or "Downtown Toledo Incorporated" or something where there was a whole environment built for promenade park.

But I also wasn't a fan of an ampitheater either, because I thought who wants to go to an ampitheater? But doing a little research for my blog, I came across an ampitheater in Hartford, CT which looks spectatular.

Now I think something like this could be built downtown (marina district, promendae park, portside). Hell, I'd go since they don't have outdoor concerts at Fifth Third Field. The Zoo would be the only competition.

Toledo city has about 300,000 compared to Hartford's 125,000 BUT as normally the case with Metro areas, Toledo counts 654,000 people while Hartford metro is closer to 1.2 million.

Sorry if the image is HUGE.
http://www.cceda.state.ct.us/riverfront/index.3.jpg

[cjfjapan]

Toledo should probably look to its peer cities/metropolitan areas for ideas - among the most successful of them appear to be Madison, WI; Chattanooga, Charleston SC, Portland ME and Des Moines, and Knoxville; and some other beautiful (but perhaps struggling) cities like Syracuse, Springfield and Worcester MA. Even though Hartford city is half the size of Toledo, its center city can eventually support amenities for a city at least twice as large as Toledo.

[Pilliod Njaim]

I won't lie. I've never been a big fan of Promenade Park. It has always seem like it was just a "Hey we knocked down the Federal Building, oh now it's a park".

That is not Promenade Park. Promenade Park was built on surface lots adjacent to the river. It was a HUGE improvement. The Federal Building Site was never meant to be part of the park.

Toledo should probably look to its peer cities/metropolitan areas for ideas - among the most successful of them appear to be Madison, WI; Chattanooga, Charleston SC, Portland ME and Des Moines, and Knoxville

Toledo is a much larger urbanized area than those you listed. It's also a larger market city. Portland, Maine, Chattanooga, and Madison are tiny compared to Toledo. A much better example would be Grand Rapids, Michigan. The place has the same urbanized area as Toledo and it runs circles around every city in Ohio. Grand Rapids is more Toledo's peer, but even then, you need to be looking at geography, not population. Toledo could emulate Savannah's glorious riverfront, and it has the marshes and beaches nearby the city as well. Savannah is actually the American city most geographically similar to Toledo. Both Savannah and Toledo are flat, have large harbors, have their downtowns upriver, and are adjacent to many swamps, marshes, and beaches. Buffalo is another good example, though it suffers the same Lake Erie depression as Detroit, Toledo, and Cleveland. Charleston is also similar geographically, but the core city is very small and it's a much more disconnected metropolitan area.

Also, there's no point in comparing college towns like Madison to Toledo. Toledo will never have the kind of life Madison has at its core/campus area. Madison blows the entire state of Ohio out of the water. Madison and Ann Arbor are the two small cities that dominate the Midwest in terms of health, pedestrian activity, nightlife, and culture. They are two of the best college towns the world over.

Toledo should be looking at Savannah when comparing geography, and Grand Rapids when comparing urbanized area and population distribution. Grand Rapids is the model mid-sized Midwestern city in terms of urban development. It makes Detroit look bad, and it makes every city in Ohio look terrible.

[Paddington]

With the closure of COSI, it's clear Toledo's downtown is dead and it's not coming back. It's time to focus on the other 79 square miles of the city.

[4silverrings]

With the closure of COSI, it's clear Toledo's downtown is dead and it's not coming back. It's time to focus on the other 79 square miles of the city.

:nuts:

Obviously. While COSI was a nice attraction to have downtown, it's main purpose was school field trips and limited out of town attraction as compared to, say, the Toledo Zoo. Being in Columbus, I know you have your own COSI, so you understand that the closure of COSI is not a DOOMSDAY scenario for Toledo.

Sure it sucks it had to close, and maybe it can donate it's equipment and displays to the schools. COSI missed the shot to be sponsored by corporations and decided to take the taxpayer route.

But I will assume that was sarcasm.

[Pilliod Njaim]

With the closure of COSI, it's clear Toledo's downtown is dead and it's not coming back. It's time to focus on the other 79 square miles of the city.

Absolutely not. Downtown is more alive than it's been in 20 years. COSI is field trips, that's it. And unlike COLUMBUS, taxpayers did not want to put much funding towards COSI. Toledo showed fiscal restraint, which is not exactly a bad thing right now.

Downtown and the adjacent Warehouse District have been improving steadily for a decade now- the reopened Valentine Theater, the Mud Hens stadium, numerous bars and clubs, tons of apartments, infill townhouses, etc., etc.

The population in downtown Toledo is growing and is larger than Columbus, Ohio's downtown. In Toledo's core square mile (about 5,000 people), Toledo has as many people as Columbus, Ohio's core three square miles. If you want to talk about dead downtowns, look no further than your own city. Cleveland is by far the healthiest big city downtown in Ohio due to its much larger living population. Toledo, Cincinnati, and Columbus are far behind. Columbus is the least functional downtown in the state and has Ohio's highest vacancy rate at over 21%. It's also the third highest vacancy rate in the ENTIRE nation, and worse than Detroit: http://www.bdcnetwork.com/article/CA6426341.html

Your comments are without any factual backing. You obviously overlooked Bustown's legendary vacancy rate, and failed to compare it to Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Toledo. Columbus has Ohio's highest vacancy rate, and it has had that unsavory title for quite some time. Cincinnati is actually the only large Ohio city that is near the national average. Everyone else is in worse shape.

Downtown Columbus is mainly for suburban commuters, plain and simple. While it's "great" it has most of the state's ugliest buildings (Nationwide, Rhodes, AEP, state capitol, etc., etc.), they doesn't really help downtown. Suburban commuters work there, not live there. The wide, high-speed streets, the block-sized surface lots, and the lack of living population are serious negatives in downtown Columbus. Short North, Italian Village, German Village, and the University District all slaughter downtown Columbus. The area around downtown is much more impressive than downtown itself.

Being in Columbus, I know you have your own COSI, so you understand that the closure of COSI is not a DOOMSDAY scenario for Toledo.

Yep, and it's more of a taxpayer COSI, so it will take longer to shut down. They've had serious issues just like Toledo has seen, and Columbus COSI has closed certain days of the week. While it sucks to see Toledo's COSI close, Columbus is having all the same problems Toledo had. Columbus COSI already has to close on Mondays AND Tuesdays. Toledo COSI did not get that bad before it decided to close. Columbus COSI is actually doing worse business, but it gets more tax money. That won't last...

[Bonjourtoledo]

With the closure of COSI, it's clear Toledo's downtown is dead and it's not coming back. It's time to focus on the other 79 square miles of the city.

I sense sarcasm but if it isn't then it's ignorance. Downtown is alive with or without COSi period.

[Bonjourtoledo]

Deleted due to Toledo Blade's request.

[cjfjapan]

Toledo is a much larger urbanized area than those you listed. It's also a larger market city. Portland, Maine, Chattanooga, and Madison are tiny compared to Toledo. A much better example would be Grand Rapids, Michigan. The place has the same urbanized area as Toledo and it runs circles around every city in Ohio. Grand Rapids is more Toledo's peer, but even then, you need to be looking at geography, not population. Toledo could emulate Savannah's glorious riverfront, and it has the marshes and beaches nearby the city as well. Savannah is actually the American city most geographically similar to Toledo. Both Savannah and Toledo are flat, have large harbors, have their downtowns upriver, and are adjacent to many swamps, marshes, and beaches. Buffalo is another good example, though it suffers the same Lake Erie depression as Detroit, Toledo, and Cleveland. Charleston is also similar geographically, but the core city is very small and it's a much more disconnected metropolitan area.

Also, there's no point in comparing college towns like Madison to Toledo. Toledo will never have the kind of life Madison has at its core/campus area. Madison blows the entire state of Ohio out of the water. Madison and Ann Arbor are the two small cities that dominate the Midwest in terms of health, pedestrian activity, nightlife, and culture. They are two of the best college towns the world over.

Toledo should be looking at Savannah when comparing geography, and Grand Rapids when comparing urbanized area and population distribution. Grand Rapids is the model mid-sized Midwestern city in terms of urban development. It makes Detroit look bad, and it makes every city in Ohio look terrible.

I like your comparison to Savannah, but even though geographically there are similarities, culturally and historically I don't know that there is much comparison. I've never been to Savannah, but it doesn't strike me as an industrial city like Toledo.

Regarding city sizes, the cities I listed are, for the most part, peer to Toledo. I don't want to get into a pissing match over Toledo's brawn, but Toledo is roughly the 70th largest media market and urbanized area in the US (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_urban_areas_of_the_United_States) - on par with Knoxville, Worcester, Grand Rapids in terms of urbanized area (though significantly larger than Des Moines, Chattanooga and Madison). Comparing US media markets (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_television_stations_in_North_America_by_media_market), Toledo is larger than Charleston SC, Chattanooga and Madison, but Im guessing Toledo's proximity to Detroit lessens its reach in comparison to Knoxville and Grand Rapids, according to this list.

In comparison, it appears that Toledo's urbanized area is larger than its media market should suggest - again, probably because of Detroit. I was driving around the city late last night - downtown looked great from afar. I really wish there was a public viewing platform somewhere, above the treetops, to see the city sprawled out. Do any of the downtown skyscrapers have public areas up top?

[Paddington]

Meh. I'm not going to defend Columbus. I just go to school here.

COSI is something that brought middle class people downtown all year round. The loss of COSI is a big loss to downtown boosters.

I think downtown is important, but it seems to take up 99% of the attention of city affairs, while the rest of the city falls back even further and further with population and job loss.

I feel like a city Toledo could learn a lot from is Ft. Wayne, just down the Maumee River. It's 80 square miles, and it's growing - strongly - in population. It's classic rustbelt with a lot of auto industry, but at the same time it's got new economy job growth as well. Why couldn't Toledo have replicated some of that success? It's in the same region, though Toledo's the one at the center of major interstates, lake, and a big international airport nearby. Ft. Wayne has fewer natural strengths IMO than Toledo, but it's boosters are obviously doing a much better job selling them.

[ilovetoledo]

Meh. I'm not going to defend Columbus. I just go to school here.

COSI is something that brought middle class people downtown all year round. The loss of COSI is a big loss to downtown boosters.

I think downtown is important, but it seems to take up 99% of the attention of city affairs, while the rest of the city falls back even further and further with population and job loss.

I feel like a city Toledo could learn a lot from is Ft. Wayne, just down the Maumee River. It's 80 square miles, and it's growing - strongly - in population. It's classic rustbelt with a lot of auto industry, but at the same time it's got new economy job growth as well. Why couldn't Toledo have replicated some of that success? It's in the same region, though Toledo's the one at the center of major interstates, lake, and a big international airport nearby. Ft. Wayne has fewer natural strengths IMO than Toledo, but it's boosters are obviously doing a much better job selling them.

Toledo is far more advanced than Ft. Wayne. We dont need to take tips from cities with smaller sizes. Toledo is a growing city not a city with the population of Ft. Wayne. Toledo needs to take tips with much larger populations. And compared to Downtown Columbus, Toledo rocks... I'm sorry i've been to Columbus and in the downtown and i really wasnt that impressed. Toledo can offer a much bigger selection of entertainment. And another problem with Columbus is they cant decide on an issue. When Toledoans come together we come together as a city. Thats what i like so much about our population numbers. Everyone wants the dirt on TOLEDO thats why people from Columbus are checking out our blogs because you are jealous of what we have. Im sorry to say it but in 10-20 years Toledo may trump Columbus...

[Paddington]

Are you joking? Toledo hasn't grown in decades. What's worse, even the metro area has been flat since around 1970, which is pretty bad considering even places like Detroit and St. Louis have at least had suburban growth comfortably exceeding the city's losses.

Ft. Wayne is not that much smaller than Toledo (roughly 2/3 the city/metro population). That's actually a more realistic comparison than Toledo vs. Columbus (over twice the size city/metro). Ft. Wayne is also in the same region, with similar demographics/geographics, but is managing to grow.

[ilovetoledo]

Are you serious. Toledo has gotten more national attention in the past 3 weeks than you have in the past 3 months. Oh wait, you have I am sorry, you have one of the worst vancancy rates in the nation. Toledo is growing buddy. And for you to sit in Columbus and judge us doesnt mean anything. You dont know the first thing about Toledo until you live here. We are growing in ways that you dont even know. When the renewable energy comes Toledo you will see what this city has to offer. Until then dont talk about some issue that you have no idea about. I dont know all about Columbus and you dont know everything about Toledo. Ur satistics from 2005 are useless. Toledo is such an awesome community. We have an awesome zoo that is among the Top 10 in the country. I think Columbus is a really nice city i just dont see how you can get on here and start bad mouthing Toledo when you dont know the first thing about it. Its not about what city is better its about how we can maintain and grow as a community. Toledo is growing and im sure Columbus is too. We both have great cities we just need to look at what we've got and be greatful that we have what we have...

[ilovetoledo]

Plus cosi was on Riverfront property which can be used for much better things than cosi. That building should have never housed cosi in the first place. How often do you find riverfront property like that now of days? Cosi was more of a drain on the community. It was always stuggling and it wanted help from the tax payers which dont like to support a buisness that cant support itself. Toledo may be a little upset that Cosi is leaving but we are saving our downtown from major hardships that would've erected in the years to come. My advice is to get out of Cosi Columbus while you can.

[Pilliod Njaim]

I feel like a city Toledo could learn a lot from is Ft. Wayne, just down the Maumee River. It's 80 square miles, and it's growing - strongly - in population.

Fort Wayne still annexes suburbs, so it's not "growing" (it's doing what Columbus is doing). Fort Wayne has just managed to annex more suburbs than other cities. I have nothing against the place, but it does seriously lack the downtown, warehouse district, and nearby core neighborhoods Toledo has. Toledo has a much better downtown and superior historic districts. There is nothing like Old West End or Vistula in Fort Wayne. There really isn't anything as urban as East Toledo actually. The Maumee River is also a joke in Fort Wayne and is more of a creek like you'd see in downtown Columbus. I'd say that both cities are not reaching their potential, but Toledo overall has a hell of a lot more potential due to location, natural resources, and older building stock.

[Pilliod Njaim]

And compared to Downtown Columbus, Toledo rocks... I'm sorry i've been to Columbus and in the downtown and i really wasnt that impressed. Toledo can offer a much bigger selection of entertainment. And another problem with Columbus is they cant decide on an issue.

Downtown Columbus is hurt by the surrounding districts which all are better urban neighborhoods. Esentially, downtown Columbus is dethroned by Short North-University District. Downtown Toledo is more of the "city hub", though of course a lot more still needs to be done. That's the way it is in every major Ohio city. Cleveland is overall the healthiest downtown and it supports the largest living and working population by far. Toledo has tons of potential though, and it was smarter by not cutting the city off from the waterfront.

When the renewable energy comes Toledo you will see what this city has to offer.

Toledo may not be a white collar city like Columbus, but it's the growing hub of "green collar" in the Midwest.

Are you joking? Toledo hasn't grown in decades. What's worse, even the metro area has been flat since around 1970, which is pretty bad considering even places like Detroit and St. Louis have at least had suburban growth comfortably exceeding the city's losses.

Monroe County and Lenawee County should be added to Toledo's MSA, period. Lenawee is already part of the Toledo market, and most of Monroe County's growth/sprawl has been from Toledo. The "region" is closer to a million people, and though it has grown slowly, it has still grown. Both Detroit and Toledo are growing, but slowly due to the obvious problems of the auto industry. I really wish Jeep could be seperate from Chrysler...

[Pilliod Njaim]

I like your comparison to Savannah, but even though geographically there are similarities, culturally and historically I don't know that there is much comparison. I've never been to Savannah, but it doesn't strike me as an industrial city like Toledo.

Savannah is heavily industrial. It's similar to Toledo, but with a much better/healthier urban core- an urban core that is better than almost any city in America. Savannah has that Hollywood romantic image and is a major tourism hub in the Southeastern United States, but its backbone has always been shipping. Like Toledo is one of the largest ports on the Great Lakes, Savannah is one of the largest ports in the Southeast. Upriver from downtown, Savannah has massive industrial areas, and there are numerous cranes and smokestacks. The Savannah you see in media is the gorgeous 1800's Savannah which truly is one of America's most beautiful cities. The Savannah outside of the historic district has a lot of industry like Toledo. Savannah also has a giant cable-stay bridge like Toledo. On top of all that, the rivers look IDENTICAL with practically the same width and color. Culturally, Toledo is grittier, more liberal, and more diverse, while Savannah is just incredibly influenced by tourism and is split black/white down the middle (there are virtually no Hispanic, Middle Eastern, or Eastern European communities like you see in Toledo). Really though, the geographies are quite similar, and Savannah's Riverwalk is the best urban riverfront in America. Toledo HAS the same layout, and it even has an 1800's block with Fort Industry Square. It just needs to the get the thing going and fill in the hole where the Federal Building stood. I see no reason Toledo's riverfront can't be as vibrant as Savannah's riverfront.

Regarding city sizes, the cities I listed are, for the most part, peer to Toledo. I don't want to get into a pissing match over Toledo's brawn, but Toledo is roughly the 70th largest media market and urbanized area in the US - on par with Knoxville, Worcester, Grand Rapids in terms of urbanized area (though significantly larger than Des Moines, Chattanooga and Madison). Comparing US media markets, Toledo is larger than Charleston SC, Chattanooga and Madison, but Im guessing Toledo's proximity to Detroit lessens its reach in comparison to Knoxville and Grand Rapids, according to this list.

Toledo is almost the EXACT same size as Grand Rapids, and that's why I think that's the best example to use. The urbanized areas, the urban core size, the core density, the MSA's, etc. all fall in line. Toledo could very easily support all the amenities Grand Rapids supports. Sure, Grand Rapids doesn't have competition with Detroit, but it's stupid for Toledo to just lay down and let Rock City take away business.

By urbanized area, Toledo is significantly larger than Des Moines, Madison, Knoxville, Charleston, and Chatanooga. It's MUCH denser than most of them too: http://www.demographia.com/db-ua2000pop.htm

Toledo's urbanized area is over a half million people with a density of about 2500 people per square mile while Charleston and Knoxville are around 400,000 people at densities well under 2000 people per square mile. Toledo is larger and denser than those urban areas.

Chatanooga doesn't even belong in the discussion since it's not similar to Toledo in any way, shape, or form. Ditto with Madison since it's a college town. Knoxville shouldn't be on here either. I can see an argument for Charleston since it's on water, but still, it's not as similar as Savannah geographically. Grand Rapids is of course the most similar in size.

Omaha would be another good example of a city similar to Toledo in size. It also is an agribusiness and food processing hub like Toledo, but it lacks water. Water is Toledo's greatest asset and is what sets it apart from many other Midwestern cities its size. Toledo's potential is ridiculous- a major river, a Great Lake, a major shipping port, the nation's third largest rail hub, two of the nation's busiest higways, a major cargo airport, one of the world's best art museums, one of the world's best and most complete zoos, etc., etc. It also is loaded with great recreation nearby in the metro with Port Clinton, Put-in-Bay, East Harbor, etc. The Islands/East Harbor/Marblehead area is equivelant to Savannah's Tybee Island, just colder but still very swimmable for four months of the year.

In comparison, it appears that Toledo's urbanized area is larger than its media market should suggest - again, probably because of Detroit. I was driving around the city late last night - downtown looked great from afar. I really wish there was a public viewing platform somewhere, above the treetops, to see the city sprawled out. Do any of the downtown skyscrapers have public areas up top?

It is, and yes, Toledo's market is hurt by Detroit. Monroe County is technically part of Detroit's media market (DMA), but I can tell you that at least half of the population up there is more Toledo oriented. Monroe County will probably eventually be added to Toledo's MSA and DMA. Almost all the growth/hellish sprawl in the county right now is suburban Toledo. Lenawee County is already part of Toledo's DMA (which is about 825,000 people), but not the MSA (which is 660,000 people). Add Monroe and Lenawee, and Toledo's MSA and DMA will approach 1 million people.

There are unfortunately no public viewing decks in Toledo, but I've been on top of a couple skyscrapers and the view is incredible. Seeing Lake Erie in the distance and taking in the full scope of the city is amazing. Toledo looks pretty large from on top of a skyscraper. It reminds me a lot of the view of from Carew Tower in Cincinnati, only better since Toledo has larger bridges and Lake Erie. The flat landscape also lets you see further. Distant landmarks like University Hall, Monroe Powerplant, the oil refineries, the grain elevators, and dozens of tall church steeples are visible.

[Pilliod Njaim]

Toledo is far more advanced than Ft. Wayne. We dont need to take tips from cities with smaller sizes

There's nothing wrong with small cities. Many of the greatest Midwestern cities are small- look at Ann Arbor, Madison, Duluth, etc.

In Ohio, most of the best cities are the small ones like Findlay, Athens, Sandusky, and Marietta. I'll take Athens over any of the big cities. There is no city in Ohio more pedestrian-friendly and functionally urban.

Fort Wayne, irregardless of size, just is not a good city for anyone to model themselves after. Fort Wayne has leveled two-thirds of its downtown. It also is not similar to Toledo at all despite the close proximity. The culture is completely different and the geography is quite different too- no lake/navigable river/marshes/etc.

Im sorry to say it but in 10-20 years Toledo may trump Columbus...

Well, I already say that since Toledo has an awesome location while Columbus is in the middle of nowhere. Toledo also has real grit and soul. I prefer that kind of culture more than the corporate-dominated Columbus culture. There's also just a weird quirkiness to Toledo that I like. I've been all over this country and I haven't found many cities with a culture quite like Toledo (though of course Detroit is most similar). There are many, many places like Columbus.

Ft. Wayne is also in the same region, with similar demographics/geographics, but is managing to grow.

You're kidding, right? Fort Wayne is an inland city without water while Toledo is a major Great Lakes shipping port built on swamps. The demographics and geography are nothing alike. Fort Wayne is a typical Midwestern city similar to Dayton with Irish/German/English white people, African-Americans, and not much else. Toledo has large Eastern European and Middle Eastern communities. They're nothing alike. Fort Wayne is also very conservative and Toledo is very liberal. It's completely apples to oranges. And Fort Wayne is not growing as a city, it's annexing, just like Columbus.

That's actually a more realistic comparison than Toledo vs. Columbus (over twice the size city/metro).

Nope. Toledo's core 50 square miles and Columbus's core 50 square miles have the same population (both about 225,000 people today). Toledo used to be Ohio's third largest city, and was larger than Columbus. Columbus has more post-WW2 suburban areas, but the pre-WW2 urban area is equivelant to Toledo. "Growth" is almost always sprawl. Urban Toledo is the same size as urban Columbus and it's the same density. The difference is all in the suburbs and lower density areas. If you look at MSA and urbanized area (which includes all true suburbs), Columbus is larger, but if you look strictly at the high density areas, they're exactly the same. Cleveland is the only Ohio city that stands out as much larger than the others in terms of its urban core. Its high density area (the core area over 5000 people per square mile) is two times larger than Cincinnati, and nearly three times larger than Columbus or Toledo. Cleveland has a big high density urban core, which extends deep into the suburbs. Cincinnati, Columbus, and Toledo are mid-sized, and do not have many high density suburbs. Dayton and Akron are smaller. Youngstown and Canton are much smaller. Cincinnati and Columbus just have a hell of a lot more post-WW2 suburbia making them larger metropolitan areas, though the actual urban "city" (pre-WW2) area is quite similar in size to Toledo. Heavily urbanized pre-WW2 Toledo (about 225,000 people today) represents 1/3rd of its metropolitan area. Heavily urbanized pre-WW2 Cincinnati (about 350,000 people today including Kentucky) represents 1/6th of its metropolitan area. Heavily urbanized pre-WW2 Columbus (about 240,000 people today) represents 1/8th of its metropolitan area. The ratios get even smaller in Dayton, Akron and Youngstown, where there are few consolidated areas over 5000 people per square mile. Cleveland's high density core is twice the size of Cincinnati's and nearly three times the size of Columbus's or Toledo's. That's why Cleveland feels like Ohio's largest city, even though its MSA is the same size as Cincinnati and Columbus. Cleveland has a much larger and much denser pre-WW2 urban area. When judging a "city," look at the high density urban area, which is the only part that appears like an actual city. The rest of the metropolitan areas are almost entirely suburban. Metro Cincinnati and Columbus are suburban to an insane degree.

Fort Wayne's urban core is about half the size of the cores of Columbus or Toledo and it's even more decimated. It's more equivelant in size to Youngstown or Canton. And Fort Wayne's downtown is almost entirely parking lots.

[Bonjourtoledo]

I admire ilovetoledo's passion to defend Toledo, keep up with your attitude because there is never enough of that and it is a good thing.

I echo the exact sentiment and details Pilliod Njaim in past several posts and I am impress with the accuracy he has displayed.

It is very easy for people to be negative and downgrade Toledo (or any city for that matter) instead of being constructive when it comes to comparing apples/apples or apples/oranges. Toledo is unique and I have said many times before no cities in this country is the same; furthermore, we will achieve constructive discussions about developments and economics of this region instead of badgering stupid issues that is pretty much irrelevant.

Simply the voters have spoken that they DO NOT want to fund COSi with tax dollars, so perhaps it's time for Toledo Zoo or University of Toledo to step up to the plate and open up a Children's Science Center on their campuses. I think it's an utter waste to have COSi in Portside Marketplace when it should be a marketplace simple as that. IMO, sell the marketplace and let it thrive as a downtown mall as it was supposed to begin with. Downtown will always be alive with or without COSi period.

So let's move on.

[Bonjourtoledo]

I've covered the progress of this development project quite extensively in this thread and it's time to get this off the ground. Enough of the media crap creating controversy, it's time for Carty, David and Jimmy to bury the hatchet. The Ohio Department of Development needs to its job as they've been the sticking point of this entire project, simply, they need to give Ball/Jackson the historical tax credits and City of Toledo needs to drop the lawsuit. As much as I love to see progress with this project, it needs to move on with the housing developments especially with the valuable view of the river. We cannot afford this opportunity to pass simple as that.