GOEDC NEWS

OMHS earns 'Distinguished' mark

2012-01-24T12:45:00.000-06:00

By Rich Suwanski, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Tuesday, January 24, 2012 12:07 AM CST

Owensboro Medical Health System received HealthGrades’ Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence Award for 2012 on Monday, marking the fourth consecutive year the hospital received the designation.

The award put OMHS among the top 5 percent of more than 5,000 nonfederal hospitals nationwide for clinical performance. OMHS and St. Elizabeth Hospital in Edgewood were the only two Kentucky hospitals receiving the award, putting them among 263 top-performing hospitals.

“I’m very pleased that our quality continues to improve because every other hospital, hopefully, has quality that’s improving,” said Dr. Catharine Schmitt, an OB/GYN and chair of the Medical Staff Quality Committee at OMHS. “With the new legislation that hospitals will be paid for performance rather that just billing and getting paid, it is really important for us to improve our quality.”

HealthGrades is a source of health care provider information. HealthGrades evaluates each of the nation’s 5,000 nonfederal hospitals in 26 procedures and diagnoses. HealthGrades hospital quality distinctions are independently created, and no hospital can opt-in or opt-out of evaluation. No hospital pays to be evaluated.

Mortality and complication rates are risk-adjusted, which takes into account differing levels of severity of patient illness at different hospitals, allowing for hospitals to be compared equally. The report is available online at www.healthgrades.com.

OMHS received five-star ratings in the following categories for patients while in the hospital: Back and neck surgery (except spinal fusion), gastrointestinal bleed, heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, respiratory failure, sepsis, stroke and total knee replacement.

Five stars means the better-than-expected outcomes.

OMHS was rated first among Kentucky hospitals for cardiac care, critical care, cardiology, coronary interventional procedures, joint replacement surgery, treatment of gastrointestinal issues, neurosciences and stroke care.

“The most improvement has been in acute heart attack and stroke care,” Schmitt said. “We get people from the door to the emergency room, to the (cardiac catheterization) lab to have a patient’s vessels evaluated and treated much faster (64 minutes) than the national (recommended) average (90 minutes).

“The faster you get them there to prevent permanent damage, the better the results.”

Schmitt said OMHS was also “doing great work” with back and neck surgery.

“It only takes one or two problems in a patient not to get the award,” she said. “So it’s not that we’re home free in any area.

“We have a quality department and peer review committee that look at multiple things. If anything (surfaces) as not being at the best standard of care, we review it so that we can see if there’s a problem with the process, the physicians or the nursing, and find trends before they become problems.”

Unlike other hospital quality studies, HealthGrades evaluates hospitals solely on clinical outcomes: risk-adjusted mortality and in-hospital complications. HealthGrades’ analysis is based on about 40 million Medicare discharges for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010.

“We’ve done this for four years in a row now, which shows that we have excellent quality,” Schmitt said. “It tells people that this is a very safe place to come to, and that the doctors, staff and administration are all working hard to continually improve quality.

“If we do that, it lowers mortality and lowers complication rates and gets people home faster and, hopefully, keeps them home.”

There is an another award OMHS has its sights set on, and that’s becoming one of the top 1 percent of hospitals, which means it must earn the distinguished designation for seven consecutive years.

“It’s a great goal to say we’re one of the top 50 hospitals in the country,” Schmitt said.

Rich Suwanski, 691-7315, or rsuwanski@messenger-inquirer.com

Owensboro -Daviess County one step closer to Work Ready designation

2012-01-12T13:36:00.001-06:00

The Work Ready Review Panel gave the Daviess County Work Ready application a favorable recommendation to the Kentucky Workforce Investment Board (K-WIB) for certification as a Work Ready Community.

Community representatives, including Judge Executive Al Mattingly, Co-Chair Helen Mountjoy and EDC president Nick Brake made a presentation to the panel yesterday. The presentation was supported by representatives from the education, workforce, Chamber and business community.

The final hurdle will be consideration by the K-WIB for actual certification on February 16 in Frankfort.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Local officials to attend I-67 meeting

2012-01-12T10:52:00.000-06:00

12 Jan 2012 — Messenger-Inquirer

BY: By Steve Vied

Owensboro Mayor Ron Payne and Daviess County Judge-Executive Al Mattingly plan to attend today's inaugural meeting of the I-67 Development Corporation Board of Directors, scheduled for 10 a.m. in Huntingburg, Ind., for what could be the beginning of finally putting Owensboro-Daviess County on a true interstate highway.

The I-67 group's goal is the completion of a 38-mile, four-lane interstate highway connecting U.S. 231/I-64 at Dale, Ind., to the proposed I-69 at Washington, Ind., said I-67 board of directors member Hank Menke, president of furniture maker OFS Brands of Huntingburg.

If that new road through Dubois and Daviess counties in Indiana gets built, it would create a continuous four-lane interstate highway running from Washington, Ind., through Owensboro and continuing to Bowling Green by making use of the four-lane U.S. 231, the William H. Natcher Bridge over the Ohio River at Maceo and the William H. Natcher Parkway through Daviess, Ohio, Butler and Warren counties, where it would connect with I-65.

That new route would be named I-67, an idea that excites Payne, who said he has accepted the invitation to be a member of the organization and was looking forward to today's meeting in Huntingburg.

"We're going to try and work with them to see if we can make this happen," Payne said. "I'm really excited about the opportunity. ... It would be one of the biggest things to ever happen to our community to have a interstate run though it."

Mattingly is also a member of the new board, which Menke said will act to continue the work that culminated with the four-laning of U.S. 231 from the Natcher Bridge to I-64. That 22-mile section of road opened last year after nearly 30 years of pushing by Indiana and Kentucky supporters. But there are no plans to continue four-laning U.S. 231 north of I-64, Menke said.

Building an all-new route from Dale to Washington would save his company and others hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, Menke said. He did not say when the project might be completed.

"Basically what I'm trying to do is continue the work started by William Natcher and Bill Koch and get that road up through Dubois County and to Washington," Menke said. "We have this beautiful new road (U.S. 231). Kentucky put in $130 million and Indiana put in $160 million. I say take the road from Bowling Green and Owensboro to I-69. It would greatly benefit Owensboro."

Koch, the founder of Holiday World & Splashin' Safari, was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the Natcher span and the four-laning of U.S. 231 in Spencer County. He died in 2001.

Menke said I-67 could provide a valuable alternative to I-65 through Louisville, where the closure of the (I-64) Sherman Minton Bridge is causing headaches for businesses and travelers. Menke said his company's 175 tractor-trailer rigs need a better north-south route.

"We have a real problem with traffic in Louisville," he said.

Building the Dubois-Daviess county route could cost $500 million or more, Menke said. But Indiana has already spent $7 million on an environmental study. And Menke said he has raised most of the $250,000 from private and public sources for a scoping study .

"I'm trying to take advantage of what's already been done," he said. "We know that state and federal money has dried up, so it could be a toll road."

Mattingly said the project has merit because it creates a new interstate using existing highways and bridges.

"We've already got a bridge across the Ohio River and we will have the (former U.S. 60) bypass extension," Mattingly said. "It won't compete with I-69. It's just an alternate to I-65. The real problem is in Louisville. Think of the trouble we're having with the I-64 bridge. If we are successful in convincing them to build an I-67 path, it would be a tremendous boon to the economy for this community and southern Indiana."

In addition to Menke, Payne and Mattingly, the I-67 board includes the mayors of Huntingburg, Jasper and Washington and representatives of several southern Indiana businesses. Four Indiana elected leaders will serve as advisors to the group.

Angel investment tax credit bill will help Owensboro

2012-01-03T11:43:00.000-06:00

This year, once again, legislation has been prefiled that would establish an angel investor tax credit program for individuals who invest in certain small businesses.

The Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp. has supported the legislation in years past, and EDC officials are hoping the bill will gain traction this year. It could help Owensboro’s efforts to nurture and retain high tech and life sciences start-up companies that require a lot of capital on the front end, local EDC officials said.

“We’ve been supportive of this for several years,” said Madison Silvert, vice president for entrepreneurship and high tech development at the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp. “It would provide incentives for qualified investors to invest in Kentucky start-up companies.”

The state incentives already are available for groups such as Lexington’s Blue Angels and Louisville’s Enterprise Angels and Louisville Angels.

This legislation, however, would provide the same incentives to individuals, and that is important for Owensboro and more rural areas of the state where there are no groups in place, Silvert said.

Generally, angel investors supply venture capital to companies that show high-growth prospects or fit well with their own business or are competing in the sector in which they made their mark.

In recent months, Daviess County showed up at No. 9 among 20 counties nationwide on web magazine BusinessInsider.com’s list of counties identified as potentially the next Silicon Valley.

Two areas the online magazine found in fleshing out the counties were broadband availability rates near 100 percent and unemployment rates beating their peers and the nation.

Silvert said recently that having a culture of entrepreneurial investment is a crucial next step for the Owensboro region in attracting and retaining high tech companies.

The EDC and its partners are providing some breaks for several high tech and life sciences companies within the framework of Emerging Ventures, an innovation center/business incubator and the office and lab space offered in the Centre for Business and Research at 1010 Allen St.

“What we hope people understand is that high tech and life sciences companies require large amounts of capital for start-up, but the jobs they create are high quality and high paying,” Silvert said. “And it’s cheaper to incentivize these companies at the start than to try to relocate a mature company.”

The legislation is important for Owensboro, said Nick Brake, the president of the Greater Owensboro EDC.

“We have a healthy interest in the high tech, biotech and food safety companies we have churning here, and this legislation could turn that interest into investment,” Brake said. “It’s a matter of legislators seeing this as a viable option.”

Brake said he thinks getting a bill passed for angel investor tax credits is a learning process to educate people about how it can help.

Rep. Arnold Simpson’s legislation is prefiled as BR322. If it is filed when the Kentucky General Assembly convenes and becomes law, it would direct the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority to establish the application process for small businesses to participate.Angel investors who qualified could tap into the Kentucky Investment Fund Act tax credits that would be capped at $40 million.Simpson is a Covington Democrat.

The KEDFA would have to maintain a website listing all businesses and investors and the tax credits awarded. The prefiled bill also would require the small businesses to provide an annual report, and it would allow for tax credit recapture under some circumstances.

Joy Campbell, 691-7299, jcampbell@messenger-inquirer.com

2012 may be 'biggest year we've ever seen downtown'

2011-12-13T15:36:00.002-06:00

By Keith Lawrence, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Sunday, December 11, 2011 12:40 AM CST

After a decade of talk and two years of construction, the $40 million-plus redevelopment of Owensboro’s riverfront will be completed next summer.

And that will help make 2012 “the biggest year we’ve ever seen downtown,” Mayor Ron Payne says. “Downtown is about to explode.”

If that sounds a little strong, consider this:

Jack Wells’ Riverfront Jam LLC paid $800,000 for a dozen pieces of property on Cedar, Walnut and West Third streets last summer.

The property adjoins the former Don Moore Chevrolet-Cadillac dealership at 600 W. Second St. It’s south of the old Executive Inn Rivermont property where a new convention center and 151-room hotel are planned.

Matt Hayden, who is developing Highland Pointe and Woodlands Plaza shopping centers on Kentucky 54, said he has an option to buy the Moore property. He and Wells are working together.

“We’ve accumulated two blocks of downtown,” Wells said earlier this month. “We’re looking at several options. We’re hoping to start on a couple of major projects in 2012. If we don’t make an announcement on one of them before the end of the year, we should make it early in 2012.”

“If the announcement is what they’ve been talking to me about, it’s significant,” Judge-Executive Al Mattingly said.

“We’re working very closely with Jack and Matt on a couple of things that have a very good possibility of coming together,” Payne said.

Next year, he said, “We’ll open up the riverfront, break ground on the hotel and convention center and start the work on Second Street. I anticipate work possibly starting on a second downtown hotel and possibly an office building. And I think we’ll see more retail and restaurants downtown.”

Terry Woodward, who already owned three blocks of property on downtown’s east side, paid $1.2 million earlier this year for the 130-year-old Bates Building at 101 W. Second Street and the vacant lot behind it.

He announced plans to spend another $2 million to renovate the historic three-story building with upscale condos on the second and third floors and retail on the ground level.

That work should be completed by fall of 2012, Woodward said last week.

He’s not sure when, but he’s planning to build a high-rise condo on the vacant lot that fronts on Veterans Boulevard.

But first, Woodward plans to renovate the Wright Machine Building on the northwest corner of Second and Crittenden streets and move the offices for his WaxWorks/VideoWorks — and about 40 employees — into it.

The old Sears Building across the street, where the company’s offices have been since 1978, is being turned into a warehouse.

The15,000-square-foot Wright Machine Building, erected in 1905, almost became a restaurant in 1993.

That was back when Rick Pitino was in his glory years as basketball coach at the University of Kentucky.

Pitino had launched a Lexington restaurant called Bravo Pitino, and Woodward and Joe Iracane had plans to bring a franchise to downtown Owensboro. They selected the Wright Machine building for the Italian restaurant. But it never materialized.

The building still has its original tin ceilings, wooden columns and wide staircases.

“It’s really well built,” Woodward said. “If there’s ever a hurricane, that’s where I want to be.”

Larry and Rosemary Conder have invested more than $2 million in downtown renovations in the past few years.

Their renovation of the 122-year-old Inquirer Building at 101-103 W. Third St. should be completed in early 2012.

Plans call for upscale condos on the second floor and retail on the ground floor.

“We don’t have anything for 2012 that we can talk about right now,” Larry Conder said last week. “We’ve talked to several dream chasers over the last six months about projects that have fallen through. Until we have signed leases, we can’t talk about any plans.”

He said, “We thought we had a great retailer lined up for the Inquirer Building, but it fell through. We have some great plans, but we’re still waiting to see if they can be done.”

But Conder said, “I really think you’ll see some stuff happening downtown next year. It should be an exciting year.”

“I think we’ll continue to make progress in 2012,” said Joe Berry, project manager for downtown development. “It’s pretty exciting that this (the projects by Woodward and the Conders) is being done before the public projects are completed.”

He said, “We’ll continue to focus on Veterans Boulevard and the two sites in Riverfront Crossing” that are open for development.

“There’s going to be a market for retail and restaurants on the ground floors of these projects,” Berry said. “We’re getting lots of interest. People are starting to get excited.”

Smothers Park is scheduled to reopen in August after a multimillion-dollar makeover.

A new “signature fountain” being installed on the riverfront will shoot water 250 feet in the air.

“That’s the game changer,” Berry said of the riverfront work.

“We have some projects we’re working with that are in the beginning stages,” he said. “We’re steadily working toward things, but I don’t want to put a timeline on them. We’ve been in discussions with restaurant groups, both locally and out of town.”

Berry said, “A lot of groups are very excited, but they’re waiting for some of the public projects to be completed. We’ll see a finished product in Smothers Park before August.”

Work should begin early next year on the $48.4 million, 169,000-square-foot convention center that will be built on the spot where the Executive Inn Rivermont once sat.

About the same time, developer Malcolm Bryant should begin work on his seven-story, 151-room Hampton Inn & Suites just east of the convention center. The hotel has a $20 million price tag.

It will have 120,000 square feet and guests will be greeted by a wall covered with flowing water in an expansive lobby with 14-foot to 18-foot ceilings.

The hotel is scheduled to open in late 2013, about the same time the convention center opens.

While all that is going on, the city will likely be rebuilding the sidewalks and intersections on Second Street from J.R. Miller Boulevard to Walnut Street.

The concept hasn’t received final approval from the Owensboro City Commission yet. But an idea being considered is to widen the sidewalk on the north side of Second between Allen and Daviess streets and on the south side of the street between Allen and St. Ann streets to allow more sidewalk cafe dining.

Those plans call for sidewalks on both sides of Veterans and the street itself to have a brick paver surface. Streets between Second and Veterans will also be surfaced with brick pavers, if the plan is approved.

On Second, the intersections would have “bump-outs,” semi-circles on each corner to slow traffic; brick pavers along the crosswalks in each direction and landscaping with plant beds or trees on the corners,

City Manager Bill Parrish said if the plan is approved, “We would like to start work in late spring. I anticipate most of Second Street being completed prior to the opening of the hotel and convention center in late 2013.”

City Engineer Joe Schepers recently told We Are Downtown, the downtown booster group, that existing sidewalks along Second would be torn out and replaced if the plan is approved.

That will limit access to the buildings while the work is going on, Schepers said.

“There’s going to be some hard times (for businesses) in getting this done,” he said, “but it will be worth it.”

Then, there’s the State Office Building on the northwest corner of Second and Frederica streets.

State workers are scheduled to move out in the spring.

And the city is asking Gov. Steve Beshear for $18 million to turn it into an International Bluegrass Music Center, which would include the International Bluegrass Music Museum, a barbecue restaurant and both an indoor and outdoor theater.

Payne is hoping that preliminary work on that building can begin in 2012 as well.

So far, the price tag on downtown development stands at $140 million worth of public projects and $32 million worth of private development.

But the private money is expected to begin growing in 2012, officials say.

Owensboro selects company to operate new Convention Center

2011-12-13T15:35:00.000-06:00

By Dave Kirk

OWENSBORO, KY (WFIE) - The Owensboro City Commission has selected a company to manage and operate the new downtown convention center. The commission's choice is Global Spectrum.

Global Spectrum manages over 100 facilities worldwide, including 32 convention centers. The group also has a history with Owensboro's Convention Center.

Mayor Ron Payne says, "They have been involved since day one in helping us define exactly what we need in the way of a convention and events center. If they're going to manage it they should be involved in designing this facility. What do they need in order to make us successful?"

The new operating company's mission will be to sell Owensboro to outsiders.

Dean Dennis with Global Sprectrum says, "Our job is to take our national resources, our leads and our folks that we know and really begin to put those into contracts and fill the building up. We think people want to come to western Kentucky. It's right on the river. It's all the development with smother's park and the Riverpark center. There already is a demand and you already saw that when you had the old executive inn and so we know who those people were."

Global Spectrum gives examples of what type of conventions Owensboro residents could expect.

Dennis says, "We think this is a good state asset market. Firefighter state convention. Kentucky league of cities, you know different government types of businesses. Our job is really to make the pie bigger. Our job is to bring new people to town. Economic impact."

Global Spectrum's contract is for five years. The center is set to open in late 2013.

A Kentucky City Reinvents a Faded Downtown

2011-11-17T08:29:00.000-06:00

The New York Times
By KEITH SCHNEIDER
Published: November 15, 2011

OWENSBORO, Ky. — Ron Payne, the energetic and determined 65-year-old mayor of this small city on the Ohio River, keeps a map of new development projects in a corner of his City Hall office. There are more than a dozen sticky notes fixed to the map, each designating the location and cost of a local construction project recently completed, under way or planned.

Riverfront construction in Owensboro, Ky., includes a river wall and several walking paths.

The total value of the projects is more than $1 billion, including a $385 million hospital under construction east of town; a $2 million, 8,500-square-foot expansion of the regional airport terminal; various road and drainage projects; and a new shopping center along the city’s highway bypass.

But the densest collection of yellow stickers is in Owensboro’s rapidly recovering downtown, which after decades of decay is generating significant new entertainment, hotel, housing, retail, and office development.

Like so many other American cities after World War II, Owensboro’s pattern of residential and business development spread out from the downtown core. By the late 1970s, when the Town Square Mall opened just beyond the city’s beltway, downtown was an island of moldering buildings surrounded by a sea of surface parking lots.

Of late, though, this city of 57,265 and surrounding Daviess County, where 96,656 people live, have invested in an array of business development initiatives in health care, transportation, education, and tourism and travel that focused on making the city and county more competitive in attracting residents and businesses.

Job growth is coming from construction, an expanding medical sector, new businesses in high tech and biotechnology, and the three loan service centers of US Bank Home Mortgage.

Most improbable in this politically conservative region, more than two hours downriver from Louisville, is the $80 million tax increase that provided almost half of the $178.4 million in public and privately financed downtown development projects now under way.

The tax increase, which raised the city insurance premium tax rate to 8 percent from 4 percent, and the county rate to 8.9 percent from 4.9 percent, is paid by residents and business owners on premiums for auto, homeowners, boat and casualty insurance policies. The increase, which came after vigorous debate, was approved by a vote of 7 to 2 in February 2009 by city commissioners and the Daviess County Fiscal Court, the equivalent of a county commission.

Though the new tax revenue is producing jobs and new downtown projects, the effect of the vote on local political careers also was unmistakable. Of the seven city and county officials who voted to approve the tax increase, just two remain in office; two were defeated and three did not seek re-election in 2010.

The largest project by far is a $48 million publicly financed, 169,000-square-foot convention center overlooking the big bend in the Ohio where the city has stood since its founding in 1817. The angular steel and aluminum building, designed by Trahan Architects of Baton Rouge, La., enfolds contiguous zones of glass so the city and river are visible from almost anywhere inside. Construction is scheduled to start in February and be completed by the fall of 2013, Mayor Payne said.

Attached to the convention center by an aerial bridge is a privately financed, $20 million, 130,000-square-foot hotel with 151 rooms. The seven-story hotel, developed by the Malcolm Bryant Corporation of Owensboro, is designed with solar generating capabilities and state-of-the-art energy efficiency measures.

It is the first hotel to be built downtown since 1977 and partly replaces a 591-room hotel that was demolished in 2009. Construction is scheduled to start before the end of the year, and the completion is timed to the 2013 opening of the convention center.

“For so long we were kind of isolated,” said Mayor Payne, who is credited in Owensboro and Daviess County with leading the redevelopment. “We were kind of on a cul-de-sac. You had to be going here to get here. If anything was going to happen in this community, we were going to have to do it ourselves. We decided to reinvent this community, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Along the riverfront and on the busy blocks nearby, construction crews are completing a $40 million federally financed river wall, for flood and erosion control, and shoreline park. In addition, $52 million in city-financed projects are adding promenades, a water-jet fountain, a riverfront playground, and a host of street and sidewalk design features to invite more foot traffic, and the cafes, bars, and leisure businesses that thrive in an active downtown.

Owensboro’s downtown redevelopment also is prompting new construction and business starts in other parts of the city. Revenue from Owensboro’s occupational tax rose 7.8 percent last year, the highest on record. For seven consecutive years city government has ended the fiscal year with surpluses, most recently with $1.1 million in its general fund at the end of the 2010-11 fiscal year.

The unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent in September, well below the national rate of about 9 percent. And in the last two years Owensboro and Daviess County added 2,400 jobs, more than any other metropolitan area in Kentucky.

One of the home-grown businesses that is adding new employees and making an investment downtown is First Security Bank, founded in Owensboro in 1997. The bank is spending nearly $3 million to convert a 1960s-era four-story, 28,000-square-foot building on Frederica Street, Owensboro’s primary north-south boulevard, into the bank’s new headquarters.

In addition the two local developers, Larry Conder and Terry Woodward, said in interviews that they were planning separate projects to build mixed-used retail and residential buildings on empty downtown lots. Mr. Woodward said in an interview that he was prepared to spend $7 million to build a five- or six-story, 50,000-square-foot residential and retail building along Veterans Boulevard. Mr. Conder is planning to start construction in the spring on a five-story, 22,000 square-foot mixed-use building with 12 residences and a 3,800 square-foot food market on the ground floor, at a cost of $3.25 million.

As an example, Mr. Conder pointed to an empty century-old brick building on Second Street that he is interested in buying. Two years ago the owner was asking $125,000 for the 2,400-square-foot building. “Now they want $350,000,” Mr. Conder said. “Prices are going up.”

Owensboro featured in the New York Times

2011-11-17T08:22:00.001-06:00

OWENSBORO, KY (WFIE) - A "New York Times" times article about Owensboro hit the newsstand, and the web on Wednesday.

The article showed how Owensboro is progressing on a number of projects.

Owensboro Mayor Ron Payne says this is a good time to be living in his community.

Leaders say many bigger cities are scratching their heads at Owensboro's continued redevelopment efforts and low unemployment rate.

Owensboro, and its surrounding communities have a population of less than 100,000 but the current tally of projects underway is nearly $1-billion.

Mayor Payne says city and county staff have worked hard trying to place Owensboro on the map.

Payne says the projects are just the start, "once you start spiraling back up, that circle gets wider and wider. Because more things you do the more things you can do and we're catching the attention of this nation. "

Payne says articles published recently in the "New York Times" and "American Executive" were the kind of attention they need to attract jobs and boost the local economy.

"While I want us to be a great place for people to retire, I also want it to be a dynamic place for young people to work and raise their family," Payne explains.

Payne says leaders will continue to focus on quality of life and education projects.

Cape Air flights to St. Louis will begin in December

2011-11-15T09:26:00.002-06:00

15 Nov 2011 — Messenger-Inquirer
BY: By Joy Campbell

Cape Air will start daily flights from Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport on Dec. 5.

The Massachusetts-based company is set to make 18 flights per week as the airport's new Essential Air Service provider, officials announced Monday. The flights' fares will be $49.99 each way.

"This is something the airport board has been looking forward to for quite some time," Airport Manager Bob Whitmer said. "Cape Air has a sterling reputation in the airline industry and is the largest commuter airline in the U.S."

While the new airline participates in the EAS program - which means it will receive an annual subsidy of $1.529 million - "it also serves many pockets without subsidy," Whitmer said.

"They know how to operate efficiently and effectively," he said. "And they know how to market and survive."

Survival without subsidy has been a sticking point for past carriers including the current company, KentuckySkies, which notified the U.S. Department of Transportation that it would not continue providing the service without subsidy.

That set in motion the DOT's process to find a new EAS provider, and Cape Air was selected from four applicants.

"We think Cape Air will heavily market the area," Whitmer said.

The weekly departure schedule from Owensboro will be: 6 a.m. with arrival in St. Louis at 7:10 a.m. Monday through Friday; 7 a.m. with arrival at 8:10 on Saturday; 9:30 a.m. for arrival at 10:40 a.m. Sunday; 12:12 p.m. for arrival at 1:30 p.m Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; 1:25 p.m for 2:35 p.m. arrival on Saturday; 3:50 p.m. for 5 p.m. arrival Tuesday; 4:35 p.m. for arrival at 5:45 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

The St. Louis departure schedule will be: 10:30 a.m. for 11:48 a.m arrival in Owensboro on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; 11:45 a.m. for arrival at 12:58 p.m. Tuesday and Saturday; 3 p.m. for 4:13 p.m. arrival on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday; 5:32 p.m. for arrival in Owensboro at 6:45 p.m. daily.

A 10-ticket discount commuter book is available for $469.

"Travelers will have many more flight opportunities and seats out of St. Louis than Louisville or Memphis," Whitmer said. "St. Louis is an ideal commuter hub."

"This is our sixth destination from St. Louis, and all of us at Cape Air are excited about being able to serve Owensboro" Cape Air Founder and CEO Dan Wolf, said in a news release. "We have seen ridership increase steadily in St. Louis, where we serve more than 70,000 passengers annually. Much of that success can be attributed to our codeshare agreement with American Airlines. This easy connection to American means you can book your entire trip on one itinerary and check your bags through to your final destination."

Cape Air also sells joint tickets and connects luggage with Delta, United, Continental, US Airways and Frontier.

The flights to St. Louis provide another option for travelers who may have been driving to Nashville or Louisville, Whitmer said.

"We have a lot of business travelers with home offices in Texas and Oklahoma - gas transmission companies, for example - and this will give them good connections for out West and provide good connections for Chicago and the northeast. This is a major benefit to the business community."

Other benefits, Whitmer said, are Cape Air's baggage agreements with major carriers, and that flights will be screened by the Transportation Security Administration in Owensboro, so that in most cases, passengers will not have to go through the process again.

"And a major factor in our selection was that you can go online to Expedia, Orbitz or Travelocity or any of those travel sites and get ticket prices and tickets," he said. "That is a tremendous advantage."

CapeAir's participation in the global distribution system gives people traveling to and from Owensboro numerous options for checking connections and prices.

Reservations may be made at 866-Cape-Air or online at www.capeair.com.

The carrier also plans to open a local office, probably downtown.

Cape Air is an employee-owned company flying to destinations that include New England, New York, the Carribean, Florida, the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Micronesia.

Airpark space ready for business

2011-11-14T16:21:00.000-06:00

By Joy Campbell, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Friday, November 11, 2011 12:35 AM CST

U.S. Bank Home Mortgage will start conducting business in the second phase of its new building in the Mid-America Airpark on Monday.

And the company expects to continue to add jobs at “a much more measured pace” in the coming months, said Bob Smiley, the mortgage company’s executive vice president.

About 300 people have been hired since July 2010 when corporate, city and state officials announced 500 more jobs would be added through their partnership.

Originally, the mortgage company expected to hire 500 people by 2014, but it probably will reach that number much sooner than that, Smiley said.

The city of Owensboro and the state are providing incentives for the growing mortgage company based on its adding 500 jobs to its 1,000-plus work force in Owensboro.

Part of the city’s incentive package was to build the 81,300-square-foot financial services office building on the southwest corner of Tamarack and Carter roads for the mortgage company to lease.

The construction was planned in two phases with the mortgage company’s growth triggering the timing for the expansion.

The company moved into 47,900 square feet of space on March 28 of this year and was ready to start Phase II of the economic development project by June, Smiley said.

“In Phase II, we’ll have about 275 spots, but we’ll be relocating about 220 people from the Frederica Street and Moreland,” he said. “So, we’ll have room for expansion in all of our locations.

We’ve been holding off on some new hires because of space.”

Smiley said he’s pleased with the new building and the partnership with the city.

“The new section is a duplicate of the first phase except for the center where we have our administrative offices and training room to serve the entire facility,” he said. “If you walk into the building today, you wouldn’t know it was built in phases.”

The price tag for Phase I of the call center was $4.87 million. A&K Construction of Paducah won the original bid to construct it, and the company’s proposal included the 33,400-square-foot add-on for Phase II at a cost of $2.8 million.

“A & K did a great job and were on budget and on schedule,” said Tony Cecil, the city’s operations manager.”We contracted with a local architectural firm, RBS Design of Owensboro, to do our project management, and that helped tremendously. They always had eyes on it.”

The expansion features work space for more personnel and restrooms.

“Working with U.S. Bank has been a pleasant experience,” Cecil said. “It went better than we anticipated. We don’t typically do a lot of joint ventures, so to have this public-private partnership to be so successful is encouraging for future partnerships.”

The mortgage company has had good luck in filling positions, Smiley said.

U.S. Bank now has openings throughout the mortgage business, he said. Applications are available online at www.usbank.com.

State and city incentives for the project amount to $6 million. U.S. Bank has said it intends to invest $14.1 million at the location.

Study: Owensboro a high performing small metro

2011-11-08T06:40:00.002-06:00

A new U.S. jobs growth report lists Owensboro as a “high performance” small metro based on summer employment trend data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Headlight, LLC, which provides economic and workforce development companies with data and software systems, conducted the analysis.

Owensboro’s annualized growth from June to September was 5.8 percent, and its actual growth was 1.4 percent.

The study also provides a look at how close cities are to their employment status in December 2007 — the start of the recession. Owensboro has a 1.9 percent deficit. This data indicates it would take Owensboro 17 months to get back to the December 2007 employment level.

“Any time you look at comparable data to see where other communities like ours are, and we’re in the top quartile, that’s good,” said Nick Brake, president and CEO of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corporation. “And any time someone labels you a high-performing metro, it’s a good thing. It shows we have growth, actual and projected.”

The report analyzed 386 metros — 269 were categorized as small. Owensboro fit the criteria of a “micropolitan” area as defined by the BLS. This group has an average population of 50,000-60,000 but can be as high as 195,000. And they are typically single-county “ex-urbs” that can be located close to large metros.

The report is organized by population size.

Only a couple of other Kentucky metros show up in the study.

Louisville-Jefferson County is a “high performance” metro in the medium category for summer 2011. It’s annualized growth was 4.7 percent; actual growth 1.2 percent. It has a greater deficit from -- or further to go to get back to -- the prerecession employment level than Owensboro does. Its rate is -3.4 percent, meaning it could take 37 months to reach that December 2007 point.

The conversion of the job deficit data into “months remaining” to reach the prerecession rate does not suggest that the recovery will take this long, the study states. It is another data point of reference on the speed of the recovery.

The study also shows that 45 percent of the small metros still were in crisis during the summer. And 41 percent of medium and 35 percent of large metros also showed negative job growth.

Elizabethtown ranked in the bottom 5 percent showing -2.9 percent actual job growth.

“That’s almost half the small cities that were in recession this summer,” Brake said. “If you look at the average job growth by metro size, the top 25 percent are doing pretty well, and the bottom are doing really poorly.”

The report indicates that Owensboro has a good strategy in diversifying its economy and pursuing different options for growth including “quality of place and quality of life,” Brake said.

Not surprising, Brake said, is that it also shows a corollary -- many cities in the top 25 are college cities or are focused on quality of place or quality of life issues.

“They’re focused on creating a strong workforce, attracting young people and attracting entrepreneurs,” he said. “Anything we can do to focus on aligning with this sector is important.”

“While growth has appeared slow but steady for the nation, the recovery has been far from uniform across metros in the U.S.,” the study synopsis states.

The public release about Headlight’s growth report is at http://www.headlightllc.com/bestsummer2011/.

Joy Campbell, 691-7299, jcampbell@messenger-inquirer.com

Bryant unveils hotel design

2011-11-04T16:26:00.000-05:00

By Steve Vied, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Friday, November 4, 2011 2:07 PM CDT

Developer Malcolm Bryant unveiled the final design and site plan for a seven-story, 151-room hotel on Owensboro’s riverfront Thursday that will feature walls of glass on one corner and a full-service restaurant with outdoor seating on another. It will contain about 120,000 square feet and guests will be greeted by a wall covered with flowing water in an expansive lobby with 14-foot to 18-foot ceilings, outfitted with original art.

The hotel, to be a high-end, convention-class Hampton Inn & Suites costing $20 million, will be 85 to 90 feet high. The restaurant will face the Ohio River and the Mitch McConnell Plaza, according to Bryant. A ground floor retail store of 3,800 square feet that Bryant envisions as an place to buy products made only in Kentucky will also have a river view.

A third of the hotel’s rooms will be suites. When finished, it will be downtown’s tallest building and will match the number of stories of the former Executive Inn Rivermont’s central tower, the hotel it will replace.

Bryant said his company, Malcolm Bryant Corp., hopes to break ground on the hotel by January. It is set to open in late 2013. Bryant unveiled the plans for the hotel at the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce Rooster Booster breakfast at Owensboro Christian Church, calling it a one-off design unlike any other Hilton property.

“Hilton looks at this as a unique property, special for Owensboro,” Bryant said. “It’s not copied off anything else.”

Bryant stressed that the design of the hotel creates a good transition from the $48.4 million convention center to the hotel and to the rest of the revitalized downtown area east of the hotel.

“Our job was to transition from the events center to the rest of downtown and I think we’ve done an excellent job of that,” Bryant said.

Other planned amenities for the hotel include an indoor swimming pool, spa and fitness center, a second-story bridge connecting to the adjacent convention center, three elevators, a 13,000-square-foot commons area and second-floor meeting rooms. Veterans Boulevard will run in front of the hotel between it and the Ohio River, with a large grassy area separating the hotel from the river’s edge. The south side of the hotel will face Second Street and resemble the front, with an exterior mixing stone, brick masonry, glass and balconies. The hotel parking lot on Second Street will have 150 spaces and a charging station for electric cars. In a further nod to green technology, the hotel will

have solar energy panels. Bryant said it would be a environmentally green project and Kentucky’s first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified hotel.

Bryant thanked local elected leaders for insisting on a well-done revitalization plan for downtown.

“They recognized that we need to do it well,” he said. “If we don’t do it well, it’s not worth doing. It’s too competitive out there. Our political leaders have understood that.”

Bryant said the new location of the hotel fronting the Ohio River allows it to take advantage of the community’s greatest asset. Originally, the hotel was planned for the corner of Frederica and Second streets, where the state office building now sits. The plan now is to convert the state building to a bluegrass center.

Mayor Ron Payne, who introduced Bryant, said the hotel design “far exceeds our expectations.”

“We’ve talked about the Wow factor and Malcolm has been the biggest proponent of that,” Payne said. “He certainly followed his own advice. What he has proposed will impress anybody who comes to Owensboro.”

Payne thanked Independence Bank, which is providing a loan to Bryant to build the hotel.

“I want to recognize Independence Bank for stepping up and financing the hotel,” he said.

Local residential developer Benny Clark was at Thursday’s presentation and complimented the design of the hotel.

“I love the architecture and how it blends with the convention center,” Clark said.

Cindy Mulligan, a board member of the Impact 100 organization, said Bryant’s hotel will compare with hotels she has seen in other cities.

“I love the outdoor dining,” she said.

When the meeting ended, a string of people lined up to congratulate Bryant, with several saying they were looking forward to the hotel opening for business.

Steve Vied, 691-7297, svied@messenger-inquirer.com.

Daviess Co. the next Silicon Valley?

2011-11-04T16:24:00.000-05:00

By Dave Kirk

DAVIESS CO., KY (WFIE) -

Business Insider magazine has put Daviess County on a 20 county list that could be the next Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valley sits in Northern California. It's where Apple computers were born.

"Silicon Valley is really the hub of innovation for the United States," says Madison Silvert of EDC.

What does Owensboro have to do with silicon valley?

Business experts say in the future, Owensboro could be the next Silicon Valley for several reasons.

"They have access to higher education, they have an innovative spirit, they're nice communities, moderately sized. Quality of life is one of those things that you absolutely have to have to be able to attract the talent that is necessary to promote high-tech growth," Silvert says.

Along with lower than average unemployment rates, Hollison Technologies CEO Kevin Humphrey says Owensboro's Center for Business and Research is a big reason why he thinks Owensboro made Business Insider's cut.

"Often entrepreneurs are people with good ideas. May not be um well suited to run their own business yet and need guidance in places and that being available is a wonderful tool."

"We're creating a bio-technology sector here in food and medical in pharmaceuticals specifically plant made pharmaceuticals where you can see some of the advancements that could be made in this kind of high tech environment. The seeds have been planted," Silvert says.

Daviess County was the only county in Kentucky that made business insider's list.

Housing Industry Making Comeback

2011-10-27T08:41:00.000-05:00

By Joy Campbell, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.

Owensboro is not Las Vegas. And it’s not Phoenix or Miami.
But when it comes to the housing market, local residents sometimes forget that. When they often get national stories instantly online about the national housing market it fuels uncertainty, according to local Realtors and homebuilders.

“Housing is local in nature. It’s locally driven by income growth and job growth,” said Tommy Thompson, whose company Thompson Homes has been building homes in Owensboro since 1947. “We are nowhere near where the national housing market is. In 2010, Owensboro had more job growth than any metro area in Kentucky.”

The greater Owensboro area has taken its lumps since the recession, but nothing like the major hot spots in the U.S. where markets were “overbuilt” and home prices spiked significantly creating a long way to fall.

“We didn’t do that here,” Thompson said. “Our prices didn’t get out of line, so we didn’t have as far to fall.”

The National Bureau of Economic Research — the private group charged with dating the start and end of economic downturns — has marked the most recent U.S. recession as December 2007 to June 2009. But the housing downturn started in 2006.

The home builders and Realtors groups use the single-family home units as one benchmark.

Numbers from the Owensboro Metropolitan Planning Commission show that 367 single-family homes were started in Owensboro and Daviess County in 2006. That number dipped to 356 in 2007. But in 2008, only 254 start-ups were recorded, and that number bumped up slightly to 282 in 2009. And 2010 finished with 292 single-family homes started

And through three quarters of this year, 177 homes got under way.

“If the fourth quarter of 2011 comes through, it will be very similar to 2008,” said Jim DeMaio, president of the Greater Owensboro Board of Realtors. “It’s making its turn.”

The fourth quarter traditionally is strong with a lot of families relocating.

“They look in November, buy in December and move in January,” DeMaio said.

At Thompson Homes, business is up 40 percent over last year, said Nick Thompson, vice president of operations.

Nearly historically low mortgage rates — two weeks ago at 4 percent — coupled–ith anxious sellers is creating a buyer’s market, he said.

Daviess County’s jobless rate was 9 percent for both July and August — about the same as the nation’s 9.1 percent. DeMaio also points to some Multiple Listings Service numbers to explain Owensboro’s market. In 2006, the community had 1,266 listings, and the average sales price was $115,788. For 2008, there were 1,105 listings and the average sales price was $120,319.

In 2009, MLS showed 1,012 listings and an average sale price of $117,684. The number of listings dropped to 981 in 2010, and the average sale price was $120,001.

“Also, in the nine years I’ve been in this, the average days on the market as been in the 120 to 130 range,” DeMaio said. “That is testament to a steady market.”

No bubble here

“The big difference here and nationally is that we didn’t have the big bubble,” said Richard Stallings, executive director of the Home Builders Association of Owensboro. “Across the country, we all had a large amount of new construction, and our studies showed those were not sustainable.”

The National Bureau of Economic Research found that the national housing downturn actually started in 2006. That’s when housing prices nationally started falling from peak levels that were reached earlier in the decade.

Those falling home prices nationally caused a ripple effect through the national economy. They took a toll on home building and home buying and caused a sharp rise in mortgage foreclosures. Leading national banks lost hundreds of billions of dollars leading to a tightening of credit.

“We’ve taken our bumps since ’06,” DeMaio said. “It was easy back then. It was a market-driven market. Now, it’s an agent-driven market. We have to get out there and sell.”

Educating prospective home buyers is a big part of that.

“When I run into someone out in the community, the first thing they want to talk about is the market,” DeMaio said. “They tilt their heads and get this look like they’re so sorry. So we have to show them that it’s just not gloom and doom. As association president, I want to get as many Realtors as possible to preach the good news.”

DeMaio and the Thompsons point to the community’s economic growth and major development projects under way. That activity includes the 500-plus jobs U.S. Bank Home Mortgage is adding; downtown development construction; the new Owensboro Medical Health System construction and growth in health care industry jobs; and more infrastructure work on new U.S. 60 interchanges.

“You’d be hard-pressed to find cities of any size doing what we’re doing here,” DeMaio said.

Owensboro and the nation experienced a record year for housing sales in 2006. The difference in the local and national markets is that Owensboro did not see a huge appreciation in home values that occurred in major markets.

“When the bubble pops, there is great depreciation, and usually prices don’t level back right away,” DeMaio said. “But here, we’ve seen 1 to 2 percent appreciation annually, according to the PVA, and in some pockets it’s higher.”

Nick Thompson said the community has a “consumer psyche crisis” fueled by what’s going on in pockets of the U.S.

Even last week, news from the major markets was up and down.

Foreclosures nationally were up slightly from the second quarter to the third. And forecasters quoted on blogs and in online stories were pointing to falling incomes and tighter credit restrictions as factors that are keeping people out of the home buying market.

On the postive side, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing market Index for October showed that builder confidence in the market for new single-family homes rose four points to 18. That was the largest one-month gain in the index since the home buyer tax credit program boosted the market in April of last year, according to the NAHB.

The index comes from NAHB’s monthly survey that has been conducted for 20-plus years. It gauges builder perceptions of single-market sales and expectations for the next six months as either good, fair or poor. Other questions also are in the survey. The scores then, are used to figure a seasonably adjusted index where more than 50 shows that more builders view conditions as good than poor.

The other index measuring sales expectations in the next six months rose seven points to 24; the one gauging traffic of prospective buyers came up three points to 14.

But national policy impact is real

Owensboro’s housing professionals point to exceptions here — the housing market didn’t have an oversupply, the community didn’t have an excessive amount of foreclosures; community banks didn’t get into the sub-prime mortgage business.

But those factors have not protected buyers and sellers, Realtors and home builders, from the national policy changes that were made to correct the national crisis.

And, the economy generally tanked.

The Daviess County Clerk’s office listed 717 tax bills worth $372,614 offered to investors in this year’s tax sale. After a year, the investors have the right to begin foreclosure proceedings. This year’s total is more than double the 322 bills that were available at last year’s tax sale.

“All of this has had an effect on the American dream of home ownership,” Stallings said. “And a lot of it is regulatory. The entire industry is burdened with it, including the banking and appraisals industries. It requires more due diligence. The challenge for the buyer, is that it’s more difficult to qualify and the process is lengthy.”

DeMaio, who is a Realtor with the Greater Owensboro Realty Company, agreed that the downward economic trend and banking/government regulations are making it more challenging for buyers to gain financing.

“In 2006, with a 540 credit score you could still get financing,” DeMaio said. “It’s more in the 620-640 range now. With 100 points difference on a credit score, a lot of potential buyers drop out.”

Even so, the money and the products are available.

“It’s a good time to build with the low mortgage rates,” said Rick Bivins of JMJ Construction. “Some people are just still worried about the national situation.”

“There is a little more scrutiny and paperwork from the lenders now,” Nick Thompson said.

“Candidly, people bought houses they shouldn’t have and there were some misrepresentations in some cases, and people got in over their heads,” Tommy Thompson said. “Now we have tightened standards. The disapproved or rejection rates are 2 to 3 percent higher now, and we’re trying to get back up to a reasonable level.”

Appraisal standards have changed and are stricter, but the local market appears healthy, the Thompsons said.

“Lenders use companies from a menu of appraisers now, and sometimes when an out-of-town appraiser that has not studied the market well is used, there is a disconnect,” Tommy Thompson said.

One big change is that banks can no longer talk directly with to the appraiser; they rotate companies from a list, Nick Thompson said.

Purpose of housing still shelter

Nationally and even locally to a smaller degree, some people bought houses with no down payment or a token investment such as $10.

“People walked away when they lost their jobs. They didn’t have that much invested in the house,” Tommy Thompson said. “People need to have some commitment to the house.”

The primary purpose of the house continues to be shelter, Tommy Thompson said.

“A lot of people nationally used houses as ATM machines. They were not buying houses to live in, but to sell. That’s where ‘flipping’ came into play, and we had an unnatural elevation of prices. We’re getting back down to a reasonable level now. We need to recognize that the primary purpose continues to be shelter.”

Homes are still a good, long-term investment, the professionals said. Owners build equity in the home and receive tax deductions for their interest and property taxes.

Stallings said the national data points to some pent-up demand for housing.

“The data shows that since the recession,1.2 million households have not been formed,” he said.”Young adults are living at home or with their college roommates.

Put another way, in 2006, home builders were adding 2 million houses annually, which was unsustainable. The country needs 1.4 to 1.5 million homes to replace those that are demolished or lost to fires and other means and to accommodate growth. The industry now is building 600,000 houses.

As the economy strengthens, consumer confidence will come back nationally, and more people will begin buying homes and other products. Home prices will climb then.

“The trend is that single-family starts are up,” Tommy Thompson said. “We’re not going to be back at 367, but we’re going in the right direction — better than last year — and we’re working our way up.”

The lending environment is positive, Nick Thompson said.

“If an individual has a job and a reasonably good credit rating and enough money for a down payment, that person can buy a house,” Nick Thompson said.

Joy Campbell, 691-7299, jcampbell@messenger-inquirer.com

OMHS receives awards

2011-10-19T16:26:00.002-05:00

By Rich Suwanski, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 12:32 AM CDT

Owensboro Medical Health System received four Excellence Awards for medical care, according to HealthGrades 2011 Healthcare Consumerism and Hospital Quality in America report, and rated it among America’s 100 Best Hospitals for cardiac care and critical care.

OMHS received the Excellence Awards in critical care, cardiac, pulmonary and stroke care. It received stroke care and cardiac care Excellence Awards for the first time.

“It’s great news for the community,” said Dr. Catharine Schmitt, OMHS chief of staff and a gynecologist. “It once again confirms that we are a very quality oriented hospital.

“I don’t think people need to be transferred most of the time to other facilities. We have excellent facilities and we continue to work on quality to have a highly reliable organization.”

HealthGrades, an independent health care ratings organization, studied patient outcomes in roughly 40 million hospitalization records from about 5,000 nonfederal hospitals in the United States that participate in the Medicare program. The current report was based on the three-year period from 2008 to 2010.

HealthGrades rates 27 diagnoses and procedures on a 5-3-1 star system based on hospital records. Five stars means the better-than-expected outcomes; three stars means outcomes were as-expected; one star means less-than-expected outcomes.

OMHS was rated first among Kentucky hospitals for cardiac care, critical care, cardiology, coronary interventional procedures, joint replacement surgery, treatment of gastrointestinal issues, neurosciences and stroke care.

“The ratings for neuroscience and stroke care have had a marked improvement, where we’ve gone to a five-star rating,” Schmitt said. “We’re working with the University of Louisville with our stroke patients so that we get some benefit from their expertise, as well as our doctors.

“Our quality department, doctors and nursing staff are really working to reverse the effects of strokes. One of the most important things in stroke care is getting patients to the hospital very early so that they have the very best chance of total resolution of the symptoms.”

OMHS received five-star ratings in the following categories for patients while in the hospital: Back and neck surgery (except spinal fusion), gastrointestinal bleed, heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, respiratory failure, sepsis, stroke and total knee replacement.

OMHS received three-star ratings in the following categories: back and neck surgery (spinal fusion), bowel obstruction, carotid surgery, cholecystectomy, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary interventional procedures, diabetic acidosis and coma, gastrointestinal surgeries and procedures, heart bypass surgery, hip fracture treatment, neurosurgery, pancreatitis, pulmonary embolism, total hip replacement, and valve repair/replacement surgery.

OMHS received one-star ratings in peripheral vascular bypass, prostatectomy and resection/replacement of abdominal aorta.

“The hospital has been very much into (quality) before HealthGrades,” Schmitt said. “We have physician committees on quality. We have a big department of hospital staff that reviews quality of almost all cases. ...

“If a case falls out (of quality standards), there’s a discussion to see how things could be done differently and improve the process so that mistakes don’t happen.”

Rich Suwanski, 691-7315, or rsuwanski@messenger-inquirer.com

Betting on Vegas

2011-10-17T16:49:00.001-05:00

By Steve Vied, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Saturday, October 15, 2011 12:36 AM CDT

A few seconds after 12:26 p.m. Friday, a new chapter in Owensboro aviation opened when an Allegiant Air MD-80 jet lifted off the runway at Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport for the carrier’s inaugural Owensboro-to-Las Vegas flight.

The big airliner with a seating capacity of 150 passengers was “95 percent” or more full, according to Allegiant station agent Michelle Mattingly. On the plane were Owensboro Mayor Ron Payne, Daviess County Judge-Executive Al Mattingly, airport board member Joe Lowe and their spouses. Bob Whitmer, airport manager, also made the trip, boarding after handing out Vegas T-shirts to all the passengers.

The passenger list included a group of four people from Indianapolis, who drove to Owensboro from central Indiana Friday morning to take advantage of the low Allegiant ticket prices. Paul Hilton said the drive was well worth it because each of the four paid about $250 including fees for round trip tickets, saving them hundreds of dollars, based on other Las Vegas flights they considered.

“I’ve got to go for work, so a group of us decided to go,” Hilton said. “We’re big Indy car fans and there’s a race out there this weekend.”

*
Hilton said he and his friends will be interested in flying out of Owensboro again for Las Vegas trips.

“I’d say if our schedules line up, it’s definitely doable,” he said.

Boarding for the flight began at 11:15 a.m. under sunny, clear skies and went smoothly as passengers walked a short distance from the terminal to the plane. At the top of the portable stairs leading to the plane’s door, Payne turned, smiled and pointed toward the terminal.

A few minutes later, not long after a Las Vegas showgirl and an Elvis impersonator were the last passengers to board, the plane taxied to the south end of the 8,000-foot runway, pivoted and accelerated toward the north end, lifting off with about a third of the runway remaining. It immediately banked to the left and headed west.

Mattingly said the nonstop flight went off without a hitch. “Everything went great,” he said. “It was a very happy crowd.”

The return flight is expected to touch down at 11:40 a.m. Monday, Mattingly said.

The Las Vegas flights will be on Mondays and Fridays, departing from Owensboro at 12:20 p.m. with arrival in Las Vegas at 2:10 p.m. local time.

Las Vegas-based Allegiant already flies nonstop between Owensboro and Orlando, Fla., on Sundays and Thursdays. The success of those flights, most of which are full or nearly so, was a primary factor in the company’s decision to add another route, a company spokesperson said in August when the Las Vegas flights were announced.

Dr. Andrew Ward, an airport board member, watched the Allegiant Air jet board passengers and take off Friday and called it a special day for the airport and the community.

“It’s wonderful,” he said. “It’s the culmination of a lot of effort by the airport director and the board to realize these flights. We’ve worked to assure these flights are a success. I think they will draw people from the area. The very good prices and the timing of the flights are unique. The Florida flights have been successful. We hope these Las Vegas flights with these prices will be a success and believe they will be. From what we can tell, the flights have been well received and are pretty well booked.”

Mattingly said ticket sales for future flights are looking good.

Steve Vied, 691-7297, svied@messenger-inquirer.com

Youths to get help with work skills

2011-10-17T16:40:00.002-05:00

By Joy Campbell, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Sunday, October 16, 2011 1:02 AM CDT

This month the Green River Area Development District launched an initiative to help youths ages 16 to 21 in the Green River region gain work skills and work experience.

The program will run through June 30 and has two tracks — Ready to Work and Ready to Learn.

Through the Ready to Work program, young people may update soft skills like attendance and punctuality along with life skills before being placed in a job lasting at least 2,000 hours.

This track includes the Test of Adult Basic Education and Interest Inventory Assessment test, as well as classes in how to complete an application, résumé writing, a National Career Readiness Certificate and interviewing skills. They also learn how to dress for a job and budget, including how to open a checking account.

*
The program also covers, “now you have the job, what do you do now?” according to GRADD officials.

The Ready to Learn track includes basic skills for those testing under a grade nine in math and/or reading. This program will cover the Test of Adult Basic Education and 20 hours a week of adult education. Once the student tests at grade nine or above, he or she will go into the Ready to Work program.

The young workers will receive $50 gift cards when they complete each component.

These sessions also fold into the county’s plan to become a certified work ready community. One of the focus areas for the committee spearheading this effort is to ensure the county can document that workers have had training in soft skills.

Counties who want to earn the Certified Work Ready Community status have to prove that they meet the state’s criteria in six areas: high school graduation rate, National Career Readiness Certification holders, demonstrated community commitment, educational attainment, soft skills development and digital literacy.

The goal is to submit an application for the Work Ready Community Certification by the second week in December with review taking place in January and February.

Joy Campbell, 691-7299,

Pianos to be placed around downtown

2011-10-17T16:38:00.002-05:00

By Keith Lawrence, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Monday, October 17, 2011 12:00 AM CDT

Imagine this scenario: You’re walking downtown and there on the sidewalk sits an upright piano.

Nobody’s around.

So, why not?

You step up cautiously, place your fingers on the keys, glance around to see if anybody’s watching and suddenly, you’re in concert mode.

*
That’s what city officials and the Owensboro Symphony Orchestra are hoping to see next summer.

The program doesn’t have a name yet, but the city rolled out three upright pianos that look like a Technicolor Liberace dream at last weekend’s grand opening of Riverfront Crossing.

They were sitting along the brick walks in the block between the Daviess County Courthouse and the river.

And someone was tickling the ivories on each of them during most of the six-hour celebration.

“It’s part of our walkability effort to make downtown more fun,” City Manager Bill Parrish said. “Anyone who ever took piano lessons can sit down and start banging away. Even I can get behind a piano and play ‘Chopsticks’. It fits in with downtown and the arts. Music is so important to this community.”

Bill Price, executive director of the Owensboro Symphony Orchestra, couldn’t agree more.

“This idea may grow,” he said. “If people have pianos they’d like to donate, I think it would be a great idea. I could think of a dozen places to put them.”

The idea began with the symphony.

“We got a grant from the Young Foundation to buy a baby grand and two studio pianos,” Price said. “And we were trying to decide what to do with the old ones. They were given to us, and we didn’t know what to do with them until this came along.”

Nick Palmer, the symphony’s music director and conductor, “had seen this program in other cities and we thought it was a great idea,” he said.

One of the upright pianos dates back to the early 20th century, Price said. The other two are probably from the 1940s, he said.

Sidewalk pianos are cropping up in cities around the world.

In Denver, the “Your Keys to the City” program has rolled out nearly a dozen upright pianos and placed them every few blocks along a 16-block area.

In Orange County, Calif., some two dozen painted pianos have been placed throughout the county.

Everett, Wash., put 10 pianos on its sidewalk as part of a showcase called “Street Tunes: An Invitation for the Public to Jam.”

British artist Luke Jerram has created a piano installation called “Play Me, I’m Yours,” that has traveled the world putting pianos on sidewalks in major cities.

Hastings, Mich., put four pianos on its sidewalk for a program it calls “Pianos, Pianos, Everywhere.”

Tim Ross, the city’s public events director, said the pianos were painted by Owensboro High School, Owensboro Community & Technical College and Studio Slant.

“OHS painted a downtown mural on theirs,” he said. “Studio Slant’s piano is Picasso-inspired. It’s slogan is ‘Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life.’ ”

OCTC says its painted piano “is based on organic design rendered in bright color. The front represents the sun, the life-giving force of our planet. The top represents ‘The Big Bang’ — the creation of the universe. The back and the sides symbolize the evolution of the earth.”

“The concept is that we’ll keep them at places like the museum of science and history and they’ll be rolled outside on nice weekends,” Ross said. “People strolling by can sit down and play. We plan on having them at Smothers Park and Riverfront Crossing next year.”

The pianos, currently stored at the Public Works Department on West Fifth Street and at Studio Slant, “won’t be outside in bad weather,” he said.

“We need to figure out where to store them when they’re not outside,” Price said. “Several organizations have asked to store them. They have big rollers on them to make them easier to move. They could be set in lobbies of buildings for people to play while they’re waiting.”

“We’re supposed to get one,” Kathy Olson, executive director of the Owensboro Museum of Science and History, said last week. “We have a lot of programs for children that we can use it for. We would use it indoors and out. People visiting the museum could sit down and play while they’re here. We could use it year-round.”

“I think it’s fantastic,” said Joe Berry, project manager for downtown development. “We have such a vibrant and diverse arts community. This allows an opportunity for people to gather and enjoy a public amenity, and it associates the arts even more closely with downtown.”

Keith Lawrence, 691-7301, klawrence@messenger-inquirer.com

County aims for 'certified work-ready' status

2011-10-13T10:55:00.000-05:00

By Joy Campbell, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Thursday, October 6, 2011 12:22 AM CDT

Helen Mountjoy and Daviess County Judge-Executive Al Mattingly, who are leading Daviess County’s charge to become a Work Ready Certified Community, asked the Greater Owensboro Education Alliance to help boost the community’s percentage of associate’s degree holders and to identify or create programs that show students are receiving education on the soft skills employers require such as punctuality and attendance.

The community already meets some of the criteria -- graduation rates, National Career Readiness Certificates and community commitment for work readiness, Mountjoy said. Daviess County also will score well on two “bonus questions” involving comparison of GED goals to attainment and education credentials already held in the community, she said.

“If the community can get this certification, we will have a leg up on recruitment and expansion of businesses,” she said. “If we can demonstrate these, then we deserve this special recognition, this certification. We expect only a handful of communities will qualify.”

The two leaders enlisted the education alliance’s help at the group’s 7:30 a.m. meeting Wednesday at the GRADD office.

Mattingly and the Rev. Larry Hostetter, Brescia University’s president, are co-chairmen of the education alliance, which is a group comprised of educators at elementary, secondary and college levels and representatives from business and industry, government and economic development.

The education alliance works on initiatives that will ensure students are ready to move to the next level of study or training or in the work place.

Mountjoy is the former secretary of the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet.

Mattingly said the alliance works to add value to the workforce, which adds value to the community. That mission makes it a good fit to work on this initiative.

“It’s extremely important to bring together education, labor, business,” he said. “How do you make life better for people and allow them to take advantage of things that are out in the world? I encourage you to go at your work with full force.”

Mountjoy said she asked to get this group together so that members could take advantage of the opportunity to go after this state certification.

In 1950, 33 percent of all jobs were manufacturing, and in 2003, that number had decreased to 10.7 percent.

“The jobs that are left in manufacturing are more complex and require greatly different skills,” she said. The days when young people, either with or without a high school education, were guaranteed a job on either the family farm or in a manufacturing plant are gone, she said.

Today, the new basic skills are literacy, numeracy and technology, and employers assume their workers will have these, Mountjoy said. Employers also expect workers to be able to reason, communicate, collaborate, access information, think critically and be self-directed, as well as be able to work on a team and show responsibility.

And the same skills that are necessary in the workplace are necessary for college success, she said.

Counties may earn either a “work ready certification” or a “work ready certification in progress” status.

Daviess County must show that at least 25 percent of its population has two-year degrees and have a plan to increase that to 32 percent in three years, which is the Kentucky average. The number of associate’s degrees must be at 39 percent, the national average, in five years.

“We have some work to do here,” Mountjoy said. “But a lot is happening at our colleges and universities to support this.”

The second area of focus -- soft skills -- will require the county to demonstrate that students are trained and well prepared to know the importance of areas such as attendance, punctuality, teamwork, leadership and critical thinking. The task also will be to get employers to say they will give hiring priority to students who can show this.

“We have to get to a place where some of the things that are perfectly obvious to us are made perfectly obvious to others,” Mountjoy said.

The goal is to submit the application for the Work Ready Community Certification by the second week in December with review taking place in January and February.

Other states have developed similar certification programs, said Madison Silvert, executive vice president of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp., who represents the Citizens Committee on Education on the alliance. It has become a deciding question for some industries seeking a location, he said.

“Are you a work-ready community or not,” industries ask, Silvert said. “If you are, you stay on their list.”

Joy Campbell, 691-7299, jcampbell@messenger-inquirer.com

Riverfront Crossing in Owensboro now open

2011-10-13T10:34:00.000-05:00

By Laura McNutt
OWENSBORO, KY (WFIE) - Saturday was a big deal for the city of Owensboro as thousands gathered along Owensboro's riverfront for the grand opening of Riverfront Crossing. People gathered for music, food, and company to celebrate the new space that connects downtown with the riverfront.

The space is part of a re-development plan to bring the community closer together.

Mayor Ron Payne says, "Crossing - what an appropriate word to use as we cross over from the old into the new."

Director of Public Events Tim Ross says, "It's a great little intimate space where we can have concerts on the weekends, or maybe there's a fashion show that somebody's going to do."

The city celebrated the new space with entertainment, art, activities for the kids, and even a painting the whole community could create together.

City commissioner Roger Stacy says, "We spend a lot of time at home watching television, we don't visit anymore, and we're finding here with this development that people are going to get out, they want their kids to get out, they're going to get out with their families and their children and just be together."

The crossing will also be buzzing with events, like Owensboro's holiday stroll.

Ross says, "We'll have a big Christmas tree lighting, official lighting that night. We'll have Santa where kids can come get pictures with Santa and have hot chocolate and cider and that type of thing."

There's more revitalization ahead in Owensboro with the opening of Smothers' Park next summer, and the Convention Center in 2013.

Bluegrass museum wins award

2011-10-13T10:04:00.000-05:00

By Keith Lawrence, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Tuesday, October 11, 2011 12:11 AM CDT

The International Bluegrass Music Museum has won a Kentucky History Award for education for its William Smith “Bill” Monroe Centennial Exhibit, which opened in September 2010.

“This is our first award for an exhibit,” Gabrielle Gray, the museum’s executive director, said Monday. “I’m really proud of our exhibit staff for the work they’ve done and the contributions of the Blue Grass Boys and the pioneers who made this possible.”

The opening of the exhibit began a year-long countdown to the Sept. 13, 2011, centennial of Monroe’s birth in Ohio County.

It drew people from Brazil, Canada and Europe.

The exhibit includes one of Monroe’s stage suits, a brown Stetson hat and a tie that he pulled off with the Windsor knot intact; the fiddle of his uncle, Pendleton Vandiver, who Monroe immortalized in the song “Uncle Pen”; the headstock veneer from Monroe’s 1923 F-5 Lloyd Loar mandolin;

and Monroe’s 1964 Gibson mandolin.

There are pictures of Monroe and his family through various stages of his life, including performances at the White House.

And there are showbills, record albums, album covers and the statue that was presented posthumously when Monroe was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

The award from the Kentucky Historical Society will be presented in Frankfort on Nov. 11.

“We spent so much of the past decade on building the reputation of the museum,” Gray said. “Now, we’re really focused on becoming a first-rate historical entity. There’s still a big mountain to climb, but we have a full curatorial staff now.”

Forrest Roberts is the museum’s curator.

Keith Lawrence, 691-7301, klawrence@messenger-inquirer.com

Cabinet plant under construction

2011-10-12T09:35:00.000-05:00

By Joy Campbell, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Tuesday, October 11, 2011 12:15 AM CDT

Columbia Forest Products, a large manufacturer of hardwood plywood and hardwood veneer products, is gearing up to manufacture Cabinotch cabinets, a patented product created by Phill’s Custom Cabinets.

Phill’s is constructing the $1 million manufacturing plant at 2300 Kentucky 81 next to its local cabinet shop, and Columbia Forest will lease it for seven years, said Phillip Crabtree, whose family owns Phill’s.

“They are coming to Owensboro to build a cabinet manufacturing facility which will be the first of many facilities across the country,” Crabtree said. “Columbia will hire about 12 people with hourly wages in about the $13.50 to $14 range, plus full benefits, Crabtree said.

In August 2010, Phill’s Custom Cabinets won the top award at the International Woodworking Fair with its Cabinotch process — a pre-cut, do-it-yourself cabinet-building system.

That international exposure opened doors for the local company to market its award-winning product.

The local company chose Columbia to manufacture its Cabinotch product not only because of its global market reach — it owns 40 percent of the hardwood plywood in the U.S. and operates plants across the U.S. and Canada — but also because “it will use all American workers and all American hardwood and American soy-based products as the glue,” Phillip Crabtree said.

And it’s an employee-owned company, he said.

“You couldn’t get any more American than that,” Phillip Crabtree said. “We want to foster as much of an American-made process as possible.”

Phill Crabtree, Phillip’s father, started the cabinet-making business in his garage in 1975. The older Crabtree has been shepherding the construction of the building that Columbia will lease for the new plant.

Phill’s Custom Cabinets has 23 employees.

“There is no way a cabinet shop can cut up the plywood and hardwood needed to build these systems,” Crabtree said. His company is happy to be teaming up with Columbia Forest, which has 2,300 employees at plants throughout the U.S., he said.

Dec. 1 is the start-up target date at the new plant, which will operate two shifts.

For more information about Columbia Forest Products, go to www.cfpwood.com.

For more information about the Cabinotch cabinet system, visit www.veoh.com/watch/v1645448s8TNFeg5?h1=Phil’s+Custom+Cabinets.

Joy Campbell, 691-7299, jcampbell@messenger-inquirer.com

Owensboro Unemployment at Lowest Level since 2008

2011-09-28T11:17:00.002-05:00

Daviess County’s unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent in August — the lowest it’s been since the beginning of the Great Recession.

The last time the county saw a rate lower than 8 percent — a figure once considered high — was nearly three years ago, in December 2008, when it was at 7.1 percent.

Local unemployment stood at 9 percent in both July 2011 and August 2010, the numbers released by the Kentucky Office of Employment and Training show.

“We’re not where we’d like to be, but the (new) number is reflective of some positive economic projects we’ve had over the past couple of years,” Nick Brake, president of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp., said Monday.

The new numbers show that 1,100 more people — 45,477 — are working here today than in December 2008.

But the number of people in the work force has also grown — by 1,493 people to 49,282.

The state lists 3,805 people as unemployed in the county today, up 393 from December 2008.

Brake said U.S. Bank Home Mortgage has hired several hundred people in the past year and the hospital continues to add workers.

And, he said, “Our strategy supporting entrepreneurship is paying off as some of the smaller companies are hiring now too. I still have concerns about the possibility of a double-dip recession, but I’m optimistic. This is a very strong sign of economic activity in the community.”

Daviess’ 7.7 percent rate was matched by both Hancock and Ohio counties in August.

Hancock’s unemployment rate was 6.8 percent in December 2008. It hit 14.8 percent six months later.

But the jobless rate there has been dropping steadily in recent months as many of the industries began calling back workers who had been laid off.

“We’re heavy in manufacturing over here,” said Mike Baker, executive director of the Hancock County Industrial Foundation. “All of our plants are flush right now. There haven’t been any expansions or hirings, but they’re in good shape. We’ve also seen an uptick in hiring of temporary workers.”

But he said there’s a national shortage of electricians, electrical contractors and mechanics that will “reach epidemic levels within three years.”

If people are looking for careers, those are good fields to consider, Baker said.

The statewide unemployment rate for August was 9.1 percent — down from 9.7 percent in July and 10.1 percent in August 2010.

Owensboro Chooses Cape Air St. Louis Flights for Air Service

2011-09-26T10:27:00.000-05:00

A panel choosing a carrier for air service at the Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport has selected Cape Air, a Hyannis, Mass., airline and sent that recommendation on to federal regulators.

The U.S. Department of Transportation will consider the panel's choice when it makes a final selection for a commuter airline serving Owensboro, The Messenger-Inquirer reported (http://bit.ly/ra8Por).

Cape Air proposed three daily flights to and from St. Louis. The fare will be $49 including fees and taxes and no additional cost for baggage.

KentuckySkies, a subsidiary of Pacific Wings, which flew from Owensboro to Nashville, informed the airport board in July that it would end the service Sept. 30.

Daviess County Economic Development Application on GO-EDC Website

2011-09-23T09:49:00.001-05:00

The application for the Daviess County Economic Development Fund is now available on the GO-EDC website. The $1 million fund was created by the Daviess County Fiscal Court earlier in the year to promote economic development and job creation in Daviess County. The application is available at http://edc.owensboro.com/_documents/EconomicDevelopmentFundApplication.pdf

Local schools kick off new program

2011-08-16T09:14:00.002-05:00

By Dariush Shafa, Messenger-Inquirer

Published: Tuesday, August 16, 2011 12:01 AM CDT

A local education experiment is now officially under way, as students at two local high schools attended their first Community Campus classes Monday morning.

Community Campus is a collaborative effort between local colleges, school districts and private businesses to create an academy-based educational system. Five academies will target specific content areas to give students education in those areas along with practical and applicable experience.

Two of the academies are now active, with the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) academy being based at Apollo High School and run in cooperation with Owensboro Community & Technical College. The Fine Arts academy is based at Owensboro High School and run in cooperation with the RiverPark Center. The other three academies are scheduled to become active in the next two years.

Aaron Yeiser, the community campus STEM instructor at Apollo High School, said students in his Community Campus class show more motivation. Of his 25 students in the Community Campus class, Yeiser said 20 of them are from outside of Apollo, Yeiser said.

“They feel special, that they’re unique. They know they are pushing themselves ahead of others,” Yeiser said. “I’ve always had a mix of some who want to be here, want to learn and have a technical interest, and then some who just got stuck here. With Community Campus, they all want to be here. That alone makes the environment different.”

Carolyn Greer, drama teacher at the Fine Arts academy at OHS, said that sense of belonging has had an impact on her students that she thinks will most positively impact the group work that is necessary with theater and acting classes.

“It’s a good group of kids. They got along instantly. They immediately had something to talk about,” Greer said. “That’s always a really good sign they’ll be open to working together.”

Greer said the academy brings talented students she might not otherwise have had the opportunity to teach.

“It’s new for me to be working with juniors and seniors I haven’t already been with for two years,” Greer said.

Yeiser said he believes this can turn into a revolutionary way of teaching students.

“It has the potential to be a new style of education in our community. Where bigger cities have charter schools and magnet schools, this is a different approach to the same outcome,” Yeiser said.

“The expectation is that it’s going to be something that helps them grow,” Greer said. “This is a chance for the kids to have a different experience.”

Dariush Shafa, 691-7302,

dshafa@messenger-inquirer.com

Governor delivers $500,000 for airport

2011-08-12T08:48:00.002-05:00

By Keith Lawrence, Messenger-Inquirer

Published: Friday, August 12, 2011 1:07 AM CDT

Daviess County Judge-Executive Al Mattingly put the “Golden Triangle” on notice Thursday.

“We’re coming after them,” he told a group of more than 50 community leaders who gathered in the Owenboro-Daviess County Regional Airport terminal at 12:30 p.m. to hear Gov. Steve Beshear announce the final $500,000 for the terminal expansion project.

The “Golden Triangle” -- Louisville, Lexington and Northern Kentucky -- is the state’s richest and most successful area.

Beshear said the $500,000 multi-county coal severance grant he was announcing was the “capstone” to financing the $2.08 million expansion. The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority had earlier approved a $1.58 million no-interest loan for the project.

“What’s going to happen at this airport will raise the whole area to the next level,” Beshear said.

The expansion will add 8,500 square feet to the 14,000-square-foot facility. The project includes adding restrooms, expanding the baggage claim area and covering the area where the bags are loaded onto the planes.

Allegiant Air has flights to Orlando, Fla., two days a week and, on Oct. 14, it will begin flights to Las Vegas two days a week.

The jets currently carry 150 passengers and will expand to 166 passengers on July 1.

The airport terminal is bursting at the seams under the current passenger load.

“This project will bring the terminal more in line with industry standards,” Beshear said, “and it will increase the comfort of passengers.”

KentuckySkies, the company that has been making daily flights between Owensboro and Nashville since August 2009, has given notice that it will end its commuter service here on Sept. 30.

Whitmer said the U.S. Department of Transportation should be seeking bids for the essential air service contract any day now.

Bidders will have a couple of weeks to respond and the community will be asked to make recommendations on the airline it wants, he said.

“A couple of very reputable airlines have shown interest in Owensboro,” Whitmer said. “They require a sterile area after passengers go through security. We have that and it’s very attractive to airlines.”

He said the airport is hoping for three flights a day to a major hub city when the new contract is awarded this fall.

That would be in addition to the Allegiant flights.

“You’ve come through for the community again,” Mayor Ron Payne told Beshear. “This governor has been a tremendous asset to this community. He’s spent more time in this community than any governor” since Owensboro native Wendell H. Ford.

Ford, a former chairman of the U.S. Senate’s aviation committee, attended the announcement.

“When my phone rings and I see it’s him, I always pick it up,” Beshear said.

The coal severance dollars come from a pool of money left over when the severance tax dollars are divided among the counties where the coal was mined. Counties can join together to request some of the money for economic development projects without it costing them money already allocated to them.

Ohio County joined with Daviess County to request the airport money.

“I’m proud we could be a little part of this,” Ohio County Judge-Executive David Johnston told the crowd.

State Sen. Joe Bowen said, “Coal severance dollars are a great asset to this state.”

Beshear said the airport has seen $26 million in state, federal and local dollars for expansion projects since 1993.

His office said the latest expansion will add three full-time and several part-time jobs at the airport.

The airport will repay the loan from the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority over the next two years, Whitmer said, at the rate of $750,000 a year. The money will come from the $1 million the airport gets each year from the Federal Aviation Administration for handling more than 10,000 passengers a year.

Keith Lawrence, 691-7301, klawrence@messenger-inquirer.com

Frozen yogurt shop to open in October

2011-08-11T11:38:00.000-05:00

By Joy Campbell, Messenger-Inquirer

Published: Tuesday, August 9, 2011 12:22 AM CDT

The first Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt location will be in Frederica Plaza at 5035 Frederica St., one of its investors announced Monday. That is the retail center between Walmart and the Don Moore Hyundai on South Frederica Street.

A group of Owensboro investors partnered with a Lexington group that includes UK basketball coach John Calipari to bring the popular dessert franchise to Owensboro.

“We also are looking at a second location on (Kentucky) 54,” said Roger Ellis, one of the owners, who lives in Owensboro.

The target date for opening the Frederica Street shop is the first or second week in October, Ellis said. The Kentucky 54 store likely will open in March or April.

Ellis has 34 years of experience in the grocery business — 29 years at Wetzel’s and five at Foodland — as operations supervisor.

He learned about Orange Leaf on his trips to Lexington to visit his two sons and help in their business

“They were talking about it and had been going to it. It has just been phenomenally successful,” Ellis said. “And we got hooked up with the Lexington investment group.”

That group already has four stores in Lexington and one in Richmond, as well as three or four other locations, Ellis said.

Orange Leaf’s website explains that customers get a cup, pick a yogurt and then pile on the toppings.

The uniqueness of the self-serve concept and the idea that frozen yogurt has fewer calories than ice cream and some other desserts are the main reasons the franchise has captured the attention of so many age groups, Ellis said.

It features a long list of yogurt flavors — some rotate seasonally — and another broad selection of toppings.

“You can put what you want on and as much as you want, and you pay by the ounce,” Ellis said.

Visit the company online at www.orangeleafyogurt.com.

Joy Campbell, 691-7299, jcampbell@messenger-inquirer.com

WKU launches new MBA program

2011-08-11T11:33:00.002-05:00

By Dariush Shafa Messenger-Inquirer

Published: Sunday, August 7, 2011 12:00 AM CDT

Western Kentucky University’s Owensboro campus will begin offering a new master’s degree in business administration, using a program that sets it apart from others because of how it will be conducted and the students that will be eligible.

Called the Professional MBA program, the new two-year program will be open to those with five to seven years professional or managerial experience, said WKU-O Graduate Adviser and Recruiter Lewatis McNeal. Eligibility will be determined by the WKU admissions department, and the program will meet every other Saturday for two years with a cost of about $4,500 per semester, McNeal said. A learning trip to France for a week will also take place near the end of the course.

McNeal said the program will not replace the distance learning MBA program offered at WKU.

“We’ve always offered the online program and will still offer that, but this is a different track,” McNeal said. “It’s also not a program that compares with Brescia (University)’s or Murray State (University)’s. It’s unique in the sense that you have to have that five to seven years of working experience.”

McNeal said the purpose of making the program exclusive in this way is because of the people to whom it will be open and their past histories in the job force.

“They (new graduates) have not had the opportunity to really get in there and implement or experience what they’ve been learning about,” McNeal said. “You’ve got proven professionals who’ve experienced what they learned about in the classroom. They’ll be able to rely on and bring that experience from the field into the class for problem-solving.”

The classes will consist of about six to eight students and one of the goals is for these students to work with each other and mutually benefit from each others’ strengths, McNeal said.

“They’ll be a group going through together. The idea is to put them together, let them work together and let them do some problem-solving,” McNeal said.

Lastly, the class is also unique because of how it will integrate technology. Students participating in the class will each receive an iPad 2 (theirs to keep), onto which textbooks and materials can be loaded, and the classes will be conducted using a new technology that will seem to eliminate the distance gap between the Owensboro and Bowling Green campuses.

“The telepresence technology (the classroom will use) gives the illusion that the person you’re meeting with, in this case in Bowling Green, is right across from you,” McNeal said.

David Powers, student services coordinator at WKU-O, said the new technology is a significant move on the university’s behalf.

“It’s a good example of the main campus investing in Owensboro by bringing this technology,” Powers said.

McNeal added that this course will help fill a niche Owensboro.

“A market we’ve had and continue to have is offering quality graduate education,” McNeal said. “Now, we’re introducing new technology into that. (The class and its graduates will) enhance and build upon leadership here.”

Dariush Shafa, 691-7302, dshafa@messenger-inquirer.com

To Learn More

For more information about this program or other courses that are available at Western Kentucky University’s Owensboro campus, call 684-9797.

Owensboro Economic Development Blog: Allegiant Air to fly direct from Owensboro to Las ...

2011-08-04T13:09:00.000-05:00

Owensboro Economic Development Blog: Allegiant Air to fly direct from Owensboro to Las ...: "Allegiant Air confirmed Thursday that it will add nonstop jet service between Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport and Las Vegas starti..."

Steve Martin Draws Huge Crowd at Owensboro Bluegrass Festival

2011-06-24T15:03:00.000-05:00

The opening session of ROMP: Bluegrass Roots & Branches Festival at Yellow Creek Park, certainly lived up to its billing Thursday night.

The crowd was huge, blanketing the hillside in front of the stage for hundreds of yards in all directions. Even the weather was perfect. And, of course, there was star power in the person of stand-up comedian-actor-author and accomplished musician Steve Martin, who performed with The Steep Canyon Rangers.

Martin led The Steep Canyon Rangers onto the stage shortly after 8 p.m. to a chorus of cheers and applause. They didn’t disappoint, performing tight instrumentals, with Martin mixing sharp skills on the banjo with lots of humor.

“Now I wish I had practiced,” Martin declared as he gazed over the crowd of several thousand fans. “It’s been a longtime dream of mine to play bluegrass music in Owensboro, Kentucky!”
As Martin and the band began to play, scores of people crowded toward the stage, lifting cameras, smartphones and video recorders, blocking the view of people sitting directly behind them. That led to shouts of “SIT DOWN,” which were not heeded for the most part.

The big audience seemed to take great pleasure in all of the songs Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers performed, whistling, cheering and applauding each one. Martin sang on “Jubilation Day,” a song he wrote about breaking up. “Not all breakups are bad,” he said in introducing the song he wrote. “Sometimes it’s the best thing.” One line in the song was “I’m walking away ... Even your mom told me you were nuts.” And then, “Let’s only remember the good times, like when you were out of town.”

An hour before Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers started playing, cars waiting to enter Yellow Creek Park were backed up for more than a mile on Kentucky 144. More than 9,000 tickets were sold to 5,600 people in advance for the three-day event, but hundreds more bought tickets at the gate Thursday. Ross Leigh, Daviess County parks director, said the crowd was the largest ROMP crowd ever by far.

“I can’t think of a spot without a car or a tent,” Leigh said. “I want to call it perfect. I know there’s never been an event this big in the park.”

Audience member Calvin Head said he drove from Anderson, Ind., for the festival and was looking forward to seeing and hearing Martin. Pablo Gallastegui, a native of Argentina, and his friend Claire Carothers of Owensboro were also awaiting Martin’s performance.

“There’s no such thing as bluegrass in Argentina,” Gallastegui said. “The first time I heard it I thought it was like country. But I fell in love with Nickel Creek.”

Steve Vied, 691-7297, svied@messenger-inquirer.com

Public and Private Investment in Economic Development Paying Dividends for Owensboro

2011-05-20T16:19:00.000-05:00

The 2010-2011 EDC Annual Report shows that public and private investment supporting the work of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corporation is paying dividends for the Owensboro region.

Over the past two years the $650,000 has been invested by local government and $260,000 has been invested by private sources through the Investment 2020 program supporting the operating expenses of the professional economic development staff and growth strategy for the region. This financial support has lead to over $104 million in direct private business investment by firms supported by the EDC.

Every dollar spent in support of the EDC translates to nearly $50 spent in the community. In terms of public money, every public tax dollar used to support the EDC translates to an $83 return on investment in private business investment.

Visit EDC Annual Report on the web.

Sazerac revives Glenmore name for Owensboro plant

2011-05-20T16:14:00.003-05:00

OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY (May 20, 2011) – The former Barton Brands Ltd. is now officially The Glenmore Distillery again. Known by locals for years as “Glenmore,” the iconic distillery on East Fourth Street is going back to its roots by reclaiming the Glenmore name.

Purchased by The Sazerac Company in 2009, The Glenmore Distillery employs 173 people working two shifts a day bottling such iconic distilled spirits brands as Mr. Boston, Fleischmann, Firefly Ready-To-Drink Cocktails, 99 Brand, Chi-Chi’s and many more.

Since the Sazerac purchase two years ago, the company has spent $2 million dollars in capital investments for the facility, including new machinery and storage tanks. In addition, the company has moved over the bottling of several brands from other facilities to take advantage of Glenmore’s modern bottling facility, resulting in the addition of a second shift. The Distillery is responsible for an economic impact of $17.8 million to the Owensboro area.

“We are committed to staying in the city of Owensboro, as evidenced by our investment of additional monies to add new jobs and bring more business to the community,” said Mark Brown, president and CEO of Sazerac Company. “In fact, we are even discussing a long term plan to add tours of The Glenmore Distillery in the future, which will bring in even more revenue in the community through tourism dollars. This site, linked with our tour operations at our distilleries in Bardstown (Barton 1792 Distillery) and Frankfort, Ky. (Buffalo Trace Distillery) will make quite an interesting bourbon trek for bourbon fans and historians.”

“We’re excited to be called ‘The Glenmore Distillery’ again, since in our hearts that’s what we always thought of ourselves as,” said Don Kelley, vice president, plant manager for The Glenmore Distillery. “But we’re even more excited by the investments already made and the future plans for our plant. We plan to remain a vital part of the Owensboro community for many years to come.”

About The Glenmore Distillery

The Glenmore Distillery has been a fixture in the Owensboro Community since the late 1800s. Originally called the Monarch Distillery, James Thompson re-named it The Glenmore Distillery after the Glenmore Castle near his birthplace in County Derry, Northern Ireland. During Prohibition, The Glenmore Distillery was fortunate enough to be one of four distilleries in the country allowed to operate on a limited scale for medicinal necessity.

Surviving tragedies such as flood and fire, the distillery went on to fill its two millionth barrel of whiskey in 1946. In 1973 it was producing 540 barrels a day. Although distilling operations ceased in 1973, bottling and warehousing continued at The Glenmore Distillery.

In March of 2009 the Sazerac Company purchased the distillery and reprised the name The Glenmore Distillery. The Distillery boasts one of the largest and most modern bottling facilities in the country and continues to be a sizable employer in the city of Owensboro, Ky. For more information visit www.sazerac.com.

OwensboroU.com site makes debut

2011-05-11T09:41:00.002-05:00

By Joy Campbell, Messenger-Inquirer

Published: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 12:01 AM CDT

OwensboroU.com is now live.

This new website — touted as an economic development marketing tool — brands Owensboro as an exciting and safe college town and puts a lot of information about its four partner colleges in one place, officials said Tuesday.

Representatives of Western Kentucky University-Owensboro, Kentucky Wesleyan College, Owensboro Community & Technical College and Brescia University joined Nick Brake, the president and CEO of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp., in officially launching their partnership at a news conference in the Commerce Center.

A small crowd of educators, business and community leaders and public officials attended the launch.

“Economic development has long been based on the location decisions of companies,” Brake said. “The overall goal of our partnership is to focus on the location decisions made by college students and their parents.”

The EDC is continuing to pursue a strategy that educational attainment drives the new economy. The goal of this partnership is to boost the community’s college enrollment to 10,000 from its current number of nearly 8,000, he said.

The idea is for the community to be able to continue to retain at least two out of three graduates to live and work in the community.

The web portal is the primary marketing tool the partners will use to “Enroll, Engage and Employ” students who choose Owensboro.

The site lets the institutions sell themselves and lets parents see what the colleges and the community have to offer.

Links to the colleges as well as to social media and other sites also are plugged into OwensboroU.

“Our hope is that this initiative will help us work together as a region and recognize the role that higher education and a baccalaureate degree play in economic development,” Brake said.

As the partnership continues, other organizations will be engaged to tie the college population together, he said.

The new website and partnership provides a way to demonstrate the collaborations the four colleges already have and an opportunity to continue those relationships, said Gene Tice, Western’s Owensboro campus director.

The four leaders have been meeting regularly for a number of years.

“Parents are very interested in the community where their students will live,” said Cheryl King, KWC’s president. “This gives us a chance to showcase our community for its safety and amenities such as our emerging downtown which is exciting to students and to show that we are a community that will care about them.”

The partnership shows that more may be achieved through collaboration, even though each college is different, King said.

Jim Klauber, president of Owensboro Community & Technical College, likes the idea of each institution sharing the message that it’s an exciting time to be a college student and to come to Owensboro. That message rings true for OCTC as it is creating niche programs to help students pursue their careers, he said.

Bringing together both the message of quality education with quality of place in Owensboro is important to Brescia, said its president, Rev. Larry Hostetter.

“Our students who come here do tend to stay,” he said

Brake said city and county officials support the idea that “education is about preparing for work, but it also is about making your life better.”

Lyn Cooper, president and CEO of First Security Inc., said the partnership and website is a unique collaboration among the colleges and EDC.

“It promotes knowledge of what we have in Owensboro,” Cooper said. “And we especially like it because on one site, students and families can compare the institutions. I applaud the EDC, and I think this is a great move in the right direction.”

Students, including existing college students, will find information links about internships, activities and housing.

Parents have their own sections with separate links to a number of data points including crime statistics, arts, jobs, housing and night life.

Tri-state economic leaders visit Washington to support I-69 and energy policy

2011-05-06T15:30:00.001-05:00

A delegation of chamber of commerce and economic development executives from Henderson, Southwest Indiana, and Owensboro visited Washington, D.C. earlier this week to push for federal help with Interstate 69 funding more job-friendly energy regulations, and responsible fiscal policy,

Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce President Jody Wassmer and EDC President Nick Brake joined Henderson-Henderson County Chamber of Commerce President Brad Schneider, Chamber of Commerce of Southwestern Indiana President & CEO Matt Meadors, Chamber of Commerce of Southwest Indiana Board Chairman Jeff Deig and Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana President Greg Wathen to make the trip.

On Tuesday, May 3 the group was briefed on the status of energy, workforce and transportation legislation by U.S. Chamber of Commerce policy experts , then attended meetings with Kentucky congressmen Ed Whitfield and Brett Guthrie, Indiana Congressman Larry Bucshon, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell and Indiana Senator Richard Lugar. On Wednesday, May 4 the delegation met with Indiana Senator Dan Coats and also got a briefing on transportation issues from staff members of the Coalition for America's Gateways and Trade Corridors.

"I-69 and energy are two of the most significant large-scale economic issues the communities of the Tri-State share in common," Henderson Chamber's Brad Schneider said. "So it's important that we take a regional approach to advocacy efforts on those subjects. The lawmakers we visited appreciated that and encouraged us to continue to work together."

Brake said the feedback from lawmakers was similar in each meeting. "We delivered a powerful message about how our region works together," he said.

"They all support the construction of I-69 in Indiana and Kentucky, and they all understand the importance of a new bridge to link the two states," said Wassmer. "Funding is the problem, especially with the debate about the budget deficit now under way in Washington and the reauthorization of the federal highways bill still in limbo. But we hope our lawmakers can help get the I-69 bridge in the bill in some form or fashion, and in our meetings we discussed some ways that could happen."

"As for energy, all the legislators we met with are dedicated to reign in unreasonable EPA regulations that threaten not only coal and power producers in our region but all the manufacturers and other businesses that rely on our relatively low energy prices. We told them we wholeheartedly support them."

This is the second straight year area chamber and EDC officials have travelled together to Washington to tout I-69, energy policy, and responsible fiscal policy.

Independence Banks ranks number 2 in nation among community banks

2011-04-20T09:08:00.001-05:00

Independence Bancshares Inc. has grabbed the No. 2 spot in a leading financial intelligence provider’s ranking of the best-performing community banks in the country with between $500 million and $5 billion in assets.

Texas-based Westar Bank Holding Co. Inc. was No. 1 in the national rankings.

Independence, with $1.012 billion in assets, did not significantly out-perform the top 100 banks in any one category used for the analysis, but it scored well enough across the board to lock in second place.

That assessment came from SNL Financial, which provides information and analysis for banks, financial, insurance, real estate, energy and media/communications companies.

“That means there was nothing extreme in any one area,” Independence President Darrell Higginbotham said. “We performed well enough in all categories to earn that second ranking.”

Of the 760 community banks that fit SNL’s criteria for the rankings, none has more than 60 offices.

If consolidated information was reported, the bank was ranked at the holding company level. Otherwise, SNL used commercial bank subsidiary data.

Higginbotham said another major takeaway from the No. 2 ranking is that it’s an asset for the community to have a nationally-ranked bank with the strength and stability to meet the region’s financial needs.

Here is Independence’s performance in the six areas that were ranked: 1.89 percent in return on average tangible assets before tax; .11 percent in net charge-offs as a percent of average loans; .46 percent adjusted nonperforming loans as a percent of total loans; 54.46 percent operating expenses as a percent of operating revenue; 4.37 percent net interest margin; 9.02 percent loan growth rate.

Higginbotham and CEO Chris Reid attribute the company’s success to its quality employees.

“We also think that it’s a validation of our strategies, of how we provide community bank services, and that communities are responding to how we do business,” Higginbotham said.

Northern Bancorp Inc. of Woburn, Mass. kept its net charge-offs to almost zero (.01 percent) to make it into the third slot.

Kentucky placed seven of its 22 banks eligible for this analysis in the top 100.

Independence Bank’s roots are in McLean County where Farmers & Merchants Bank opened in 1909. The modern-day history, however, began in 1971 when Charles A. Reid and Maurice E. Reisz purchased that bank and Providence State Bank in Webster County.

Soon after, current CEO Chris Reid joined his father and uncle and assumed a leadership role in the banks. In 1997, the two small banks were incorporated under one name, Independence Bank.

The bank has grown fast with offices now in Henderson and Owensboro, Sebree, Beech Grove, Hawesville, Lewisport, Bowling Green and Paducah.

The banks now employ more than 250 people.

Joy Campbell, 691-7299, jcampbell@messenger-inquirer.com

Community Campus receives grant funding

2011-04-20T08:46:00.002-05:00

Community Campus has received two grants totaling $125,000 to fund and help expand the campus’ biomedical and energy technology academies that will enroll students in the fall and next year.

An experimental partnership between local school districts, colleges and businesses, Community Campus is tasked with finding new ways to educate students. The goal is to better prepare students for college or the job market by teaching them real-world situations and applications of their lessons.

These grants are both funded by the national education initiative Project Lead the Way, according to a release from Daviess County Public Schools, one of the key partners in Community Campus.

Marcia Carpenter, DCPS College and Career Readiness Coordinator, said Project Lead the Way is an education initiative based on improving education, just as Community Campus is.

“Project Lead the Way, what makes it unique is that it is relevant, the learning that students do is meaningful and everything is related to a real-world situation. Students are hungry for relevance,” Carpenter said. “I think the fact that we received the grant is an acknowledgement of the faith they have in what is being done in this area.”

The first grant, $50,000, will go to the Life Sciences Academy that is due to enroll students for the 2012-13 school year. The funds will be used to implement a four-class course of study under the academy.

“The Life Science Academy will start for the 2012-13 school year and this grant provides the start-up money for the Project Lead the Way Biomedical Program, which will be the anchor for that academy,” Carpenter said. “It’s all learning by doing. All of the projects are based on simulations of real-life situations ... “It (the grant) also directly meets the needs that have been identified in our community for a growing health care community.”

The second grant, worth $75,000, will go to fund the Construction, Energy and Trades Academy and create an integrated pipeline course that will help middle school students interested in energy-related fields get on track to that academy.

“The energy-technology side starts with middle school. It’s a pipeline program that will lead into high school for an awareness on the kind of energy that we are using, the kinds of energy we’ll be using in the future and the consequences of energy use, such as pollution control,” Carpenter said.

Daviess County Public Schools Superintendent Tom Shelton said the grant funding is a big boost to Community Campus.

“I think it’ll definitely help us move Community Campus and our academies forward,” Shelton said. “This really builds the foundation for us in each of these programs.”

Shelton added that because of the cooperative nature of Community Campus, this money goes to help more than just one school system.

“It’ll benefit not only our district, but students from other surrounding school districts as well,” Shelton said. “These grants allow us also to have further conversations about how to structure programs for the future and continue to expand opportunities for students that we wouldn’t have had otherwise.”

Dariush Shafa, 691-7302, dshafa@messenger-inquirer.com

Daviess property values rise by $95 million

2011-04-04T11:41:00.002-05:00

By Keith Lawrence, Messenger-Inquirer

Published: Sunday, April 3, 2011 12:28 AM CDT

After dropping $4 million in 2009, the value of Owensboro property jumped $95 million in 2010 to a total of $4.64 billion, Sandy Dawdy, Daviess County property valuation administrator, said recently.

That comes at a time when Zillow Real Estate Market Reports estimates that retail property alone in the United States lost $1.7 trillion of its value in 2010.

In Daviess County, Dawdy said, the value of residential property rose $58 million; commercial property, $30.1 million; and farmland, $6.5 million.

In 2009, residential assessments grew by $18 million to $3.15 billion and farm assessments by $5 million to $312 million.

But commercial property values dropped by $27 million to $1.2 billion.

Dawdy said the loss of the Executive Inn Rivermont removed $5 million from commercial rolls in 2009 and several commercial properties sold for less than their assessed values.

She couldn't pinpoint exactly why the commercial market rebounded in 2010.

But Bo Barron, managing director of Sperry Van Ness/The Barron Group and that company's local asset recovery representative in western Kentucky, said what's happening in Owensboro is part of a national trend.

In 2007, commercial property sales across the country totaled $500 billion, he said.

That dropped to $150 billion in 2008 and $50 billion in 2009 before rebounding to $100 billion last year.

"That felt great," Barron said. "The first half of last year was so slow, we might as well have been on vacation. But the second half turned around and made 2010 the best year I've ever had."

Investors are wanting to buy again, he said.

"We had multiple offers on a piece of commercial property last week," Barron said. "That never happens in Owensboro."

The slowdown in homebuilding, he said, has created a tight market for apartment rentals and investors are wanting rental property again.

"There's still a glut of good retail space," Barron said. "But national retailers should be ready to engage again in the second half of the year."

"Property is just selling for more," Dawdy said. "We haven't raised assessments that much."

For residential property, the increase is partly because more houses were built in 2010 and partly because home sales were also up.

The Owensboro Metropolitan Planning Commission issued permits last year for 292 single-family homes valued at $25.3 million along with 93 apartment units valued at $3.44 million and two duplexes valued at $220,592.

That's a total of $28.96 million.

In 2009, the planning commission reported permits for 282 single-family homes worth $22.29 million.

Planning commission records show 44 commercial projects valued at $62.4 million last year, up from $42.27 million in 2009.

But some of that -- such as the new hospital and riverfront construction -- is from governmental or other nonprofit agencies and won't go on the tax rolls.

Jim DeMaio, president of the Greater Owensboro Realtor Association, said, "2010 was an outstanding year."

During the year, he said, home sales were up 2.5 percent to 931.

The median price of homes sold was up 6.1 percent to $112,000.

And total home sales were up 6.2 percent to $119.5 million.

"2006 was the height of the market," DeMaio said. "I don't want to say we were ever in a bad market in Owensboro. They weren't horrible years, but they weren't as good as the first half of the decade. But 2010 gives us a very positive outlook. The gloom and doom of the national market hasn't affected Owensboro."

DeMaio said while the Owensboro economy has seen layoffs and business closings, its main employers -- Owensboro Medical Health System, the two public school systems and U.S. Bank Home Mortgage -- either expanded or held steady during the recession.

The increase in property values means more money for schools and governments that depend on the property tax for a large portion of their revenues.

Twenty-five percent of Daviess Fiscal Court's budget comes from taxes on real property, as does 20.75 percent of Owensboro's.

For Daviess Fiscal Court, the increase in values will mean an extra $129,000 this year, according to Jim Hendrix, Daviess County treasurer.

Jim Tony Fulkerson, the city's finance director, said the city had $23.4 million worth of new property in 2010 and $20.1 million worth of increased value of existing property for a total increase of $43.5 million.

Taxes on that increase will generate $112,715, he said.

The increases are good news for Daviess County Judge-Executive Al Mattingly, who is busy preparing his first budget for the county.

"We're going to have to supplement the jail more than we did last year, so we can use it," Mattingly said. "It surprises me though. I didn't realize property values would be up that much. I thought things were still pretty slow."

Most of the increases, Dawdy said, were in higher sales of property and new construction.

About 5,000 properties saw increases in their assessments last year, she said.

But roughly the same number saw increases in 2009, Dawdy said.

"It has to be higher sales prices on property," she said.

But last year's growth -- roughly 2 percent -- was still well below the 2008 growth rate of 5.49 percent.

Pedicabs coming to downtown

2011-04-04T11:40:00.000-05:00

BY STEVE VIED, MESSENGER-INQUIRER

Published: Sunday, April 3, 2011 12:02 AM CDT

While some entrepreneurs may be waiting before investing in a soon-to-be revitalized downtown Owensboro, Patricia McKeegan is taking the plunge now. But her venture won't be a restaurant or retail shop.

Transportation will be McKeegan's game.

Before the end of April, McKeegan will be the proud owner of a pair of pedicabs -- tricycle pedestrian taxis that she plans to put into operation on downtown streets this summer.

McKeegan, a Long Island, N.Y., transplant to Owensboro a few years ago, is a bicycling advocate, so starting a business that features pedal-operated people movers shouldn't come as a surprise.

She bought the pedicabs from Main Street Pedicabs, a Denver company that makes and sells several styles of the 21-speed tricycles that can carry up to three people in a passenger compartment mounted over the back wheels.

A solo rider sits up front on a standard bicycle seat and supplies the pedal power.

The pedicabs McKeegan chose cost $3,800 apiece, are 110 inches long, 50 inches wide and weigh 185 pounds.

McKeegan plans to rent them to independent driver-operators, who will provide rides to people on weekends and special occasions, while relying on tips for revenue.

McKeegan hopes to be in business by May.

"I'm very excited about downtown Owensboro," McKeegan said. "It is the best thing happening."

It will be next year before Smothers Park reopens and 2013 before the downtown convention center and Hampton Inn & Suites hotel open, but McKeegan is ready for Owensboro Pedicab to get started.

She is advertising for part-time rider operators to work four eight-hour shifts or more a month.

McKeegan said the pedicabs will circulate throughout the downtown area, picking up and dropping off fares.

Rider-operators will be required to undergo three hours of training, be at least 18 years old and able to pedal and operate a pedicab.

"I feel this is a good year for my experiment," she said. "I think it will be fun."

Go-ahead given for U.S. Bank expansion

2011-03-31T15:44:00.002-05:00

BY JOY CAMPBELL, MESSENGER-INQUIRER

Published: Thursday, March 31, 2011 12:20 AM CDT

The city of Owensboro now has the green light to construct the second phase of the building it is leasing to U.S. Bank Home Mortgage in the Mid-America Airpark.

The expansion paves the way for about 275 more jobs.

Start date on the $2.8 million expansion is May 2 with completion expected Sept. 16, said Tony Cecil, the city's operations manager.

"This is great news," Mayor Ron Payne said Tuesday. "To follow up last week's ribbon-cutting of Phase I in that beautiful facility and then be notified today that they're ready to move ahead with Phase II, is just great news for the city."

Payne said it solidifies more than 500 new jobs for Owensboro.

The home mortgage servicing company announced in July that it would invest more than $14 million and create 500 positions through an incentive partnership with the city and state.

The state and city together are giving the company more than $6 million for the expansion.

Hiring for the first phase started earlier this month when 150 of 250 jobs in the first group were opened.

New U.S. Bank mortgage employees will earn $12 to $14 per hour, including benefits, base and incentive pay, according to Executive Vice-President Bob Smiley.

"We've had a lot of good news in the last few days," the mayor said. "The state announcing that it will award the contract for widening Southtown Boulevard -- it's just great."

The City Commission already has taken action to allow construction on the second phase to start, Payne said.

In August 2009, the City Commission approved spending up to $12.5 million to build the call center on 13.5 acres in the MidAmerica Airpark.

The Phase I building, which opened for business Monday, is 47,900 square feet and cost $4.87 million.

A&K Construction of Paducah won the original bid to construct the call center, and the company's proposal included an add-on for Phase II of $2.8 million, Cecil said.

The construction company originally only guaranteed its price for six months, but representatives have agreed to honor that price, Cecil said.

"We're going to initiate that add-on option and ask for a change order to move forward," he said.

A&K will add 33,400 square feet and build 204 more parking spaces.

"Basically, it's an expansion for more employee work spaces and restrooms," Cecil said.

When the 525 new jobs are filled, U.S. Bank Home Mortgage's employment will be about 1,600.

Joe Berry appointed to EDC Downtown Development position

2011-03-28T15:52:00.001-05:00

The Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corporation announces the appointment of Joe Berry as Project Manager for Downtown Development. Berry’s role will be to coordinate all private investment efforts specific to downtown Owensboro.

Berry has worked as an economic and community development planner for the past two years at the Green River Area Development District. At GRADD he managed small business projects through the $2.5 million revolving loan fund. He also administered funding to the region through Community Development Block Grants and from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration.

“Joe Berry represents the profile of the kind of young professional we are attracting to this region with our efforts to revitalize downtown,” said Nick Brake, EDC President/CEO. “His enthusiasm and experience in working closely with economic development projects will take our private investment efforts to the next level.”

Mr. Berry was born and raised in Owensboro, a graduate of Owensboro High School. He is currently a downtown resident.

He holds a Master of Public Administration from Western Kentucky University and an undergraduate degree from Transylvania University. He is certified in Economic Development Finance and is a graduate of the Kentucky Institute for Economic Development. His employment will begin on April 18.

“It is certainly an exciting time for downtown and economic development overall in our community,” said Berry. “I am delighted to join the team of professionals at the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corporation and I look forward to working with the next phase of our master plan in attracting private investment to match and exceed the commitment of public funds downtown.”

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Mixed Use Development Planned for Bates Building in Downtown Owensboro

2011-03-28T13:57:00.000-05:00

Terry Woodward said Thursday he has purchased the three-story Bates Building at 101 W. Second St., the building next to it and a large vacant lot on Veterans Boulevard for $1.2 million.

The owner of WaxWorks/VideoWorks plans to build a "mixed-use, retail, high-rise condominium" on the lot, after the Bates Building has been restored.

"That is my plan," Woodward said. "Obviously, it's very preliminary, but that's what I want to do."

The purchase includes the building at 105 W. Second St., occupied by Patti's ReSale store (the former Woolworth's). The open lot behind those two buildings overlooks Veterans Boulevard and Smothers Park. The large lot sits between the city's parking garage and the American Legion.

Woodward plans to spend a year or more restoring and repairing the Bates Building.

Woodward closed the deal on the buildings and the lot on Wednesday, buying the property from Jeff Barber and his wife and real estate agent JoAnn Risner.

"I don't have plans to buy the American Legion," Woodward said. "I'll take it one step at a time. I will make it my priority to bring these buildings back. Obviously, by the time they are finished, probably Smothers Park and the street will be finished. I think it will be a spectacular waterfront if you want my opinion."

Woodward's plans for the Bates Building include retail on the first floor and apartments on the second and third floors.

"It has very high ceilings and ornate woodwork and staircases," Woodward said.

Patti's ReSale is welcome to stay, Woodward said.

Patti Acquisto, owner of Patti's ReSale, expressed excitement about Woodward's purchase and his plans for the Bates Building.

"From the information we have been given by the Realtors, Terry desires for us to stay," she said. "We don't want to move. ... We're just ecstatic that he's going to do something with the building next door. Whatever bridges we have to cross, we'll cross them."

A church, PromiseLand Metro, currently holds services in the ground floor of the Bates Building, which was built in the 1880s and first housed a bank. Woodward said he hasn't spoken to officials of the church.

In January of 2005, Waterfront LLC, of which Jeff Barber is a partner, purchased 101-103 W. Second St., 105-107 W. Second St., 102-112 Veterans Blvd. and 112 Allen St., from Peachtree Galleries for $900,000. It was unclear Thursday if Woodward's purchase included all the properties Waterfront LLC purchased in 2005.

Barber is president and CEO of Owensboro Medical Health System.

Steve Vied, 691-7297, svied@messenger-inquirer.com

Hollison Technologies, Centre will be featured on Fox Business

2011-03-28T09:27:00.000-05:00

The Fox Business Channel is filming a segment featuring Hollison Technologies at Owensboro's Centre for Business and Research.

Hollison, a tenant at the 37,000 square foot business accelerator, is a provider of products and services to the food industry to detect and track contaminants in the food supply chain.

Hollison provides unique products and services for food protection and the detection of contaminants in the food supply chain including, but not limited to, farms, bulk storage facilities, commodity transportation, food processing, food distribution and point of consumption. The company offers patented technology for the protection of the entire food supply chain with the detection and identification of chemical, biological and radiological contamination in food commodities, processed food and beverages. Hollison has developed a proprietary secure web-based food tracking capability for use with its breakthrough sampling and detection technologies to offer complete chain-of-custody information complete with available contamination test data.

U.S. Bank expansion could spark trend for city

2011-03-25T16:27:00.000-05:00

By Joy Campbell, Messenger-Inquirer

Published: Friday, March 25, 2011 12:20 AM CDT

During the ribbon-cutting on Phase I of the new U.S. Bank Home Mortgage building Thursday, Executive Vice-President Bob Smiley announced that he expects to get approval to move ahead with Phase II next week.

In terms of jobs, that means about 275 more people will be hired for the second construction phase, bringing the total number of new jobs to 525.

But this expansion is about even more than these jobs, officials said.

With the economy shifting from heavy manufacturing, having a national mortgage company as a major employer expanding in Owensboro provides an opportunity to diversify the city's work force, said Nick Brake, president and CEO of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp.

"We've been successful in retaining (some) manufacturers, but there's not a lot of growth nationally," Brake said. "This allows us to grow in the business, professional and financial sector."

Brake praised the mortgage company for its vision and ability to grow through the financial crisis.

"And that all goes back to an entrepreneur here in Owensboro years ago," he said.

Brake praised George Greenwell's innovative work at Lincoln Service Corp. in using technology to service loans.

Lincoln is the forerunner to U.S. Bank Home Mortgage.

The mortgage company's growth here also can spur more development, Brake said.

"We've had a lot of other inquiries for call centers," he said. "The more of this sector business you have in this area, the more attractive you are to others. It makes us more competitive."

The area's strength in the financial and business professional sector can be a magnet for back-office types of businesses, customer service centers and companies that sell products such as pharmaceuticals online.

"In real terms, this has a definite economic impact," Mayor Ron Payne said just before the ribbon-cutting. "But in terms of morale for Owensboro, it's also great. To be out here adding jobs -- more than 500 -- speaks worlds for Owensboro."

Payne called the ribbon-cutting the first of many to come, culminating with the new Owensboro Medical Health System in 2013.

Other projects include the National Guard Armory's Readiness Center and a new tenant for the former state office building, a new downtown hotel and an events center.

The bank is investing about $14.1 million in the expansion. Incentives from the city and state total more than $6 million. The city is building the facility and leasing it to the company at below-market rate, officials said.

The expansion would not have happened without the incentives, Brake said. Other communities that had existing capacity were courting the bank.

Hiring to fill the mortgage servicing jobs is going well, Smiley said. The company opened 150 jobs about two weeks ago.

In addition to new hires, employees from other U.S. Bank Home Mortgage locations in the city will move into the building.

Kara Knable said she and about 20 employees she manages at the Frederica Street location will move in on Monday.

"We're excited about moving into a new building," she said.

Linda Mitchell, assistant vice president of human resources, said the region has a great work force pool. Forty-six people already have been hired with more lined up.

Applications are available at www.usbank.com.

"I will say this to people, when you go online and see the jobs posted, don't be afraid of the job titles," Mitchell said. "We will train you. We're looking for people with good work ethics and good job history. Other than that, we'll train you."

To simplify the search for online applications, type in the key word "mortgage," she said.

Company policies also do not prevent multiple family members from working for the company, she said.

"We're a family-based company. We just wouldn't have you working in the same department," Mitchell said. "We tell people that we're the largest small company you'll work for."

The 525 jobs from this two-phase expansion will put U.S. Bank Home Mortgage's local employment at almost 1,600.

In 2009, the bank added about 300 jobs and built a 50,000-square-foot office building in Highland Pointe off Kentucky 54.

New certificate available to students at OCTC

2011-03-24T14:29:00.000-05:00

By Dariush Shafa, Messenger-Inquirer

Published: Thursday, March 24, 2011 12:36 AM CDT

A new certificate program is available at Owensboro Community & Technical College through a partnership with the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp.

The Financial and Customer Services certificate will be available starting as a pilot program in the fall semester.

Administrators at OCTC and the EDC said the certificate will expand opportunities for Owensboro's students, present and future.

Taught through the business department at OCTC, the certificate will require four classes. Topics for those classes range from basic customer service to communications to finance and money.

They are available to both present traditional students and dual-credit high school students attending through Discover College.

The courses can also be used for an associate's degree or beyond.

"All the courses within the certificates are offered at OCTC. There's no new courses created," said Stacy Edds-Ellis, associate dean of academic affairs. "It's a clear pathway to build upon in the business sector. It also provides a great dual-credit opportunity through Discover College. What we are hoping it does for the students is the same thing it does for the community, and that is to meet a need."

Nick Brake, president of the EDC, said this is one more example of tailoring education to meet Owensboro's need for employees at businesses like U.S. Bank or First Security Bank.

"We have multiple partnerships with the college in helping focus their preparation on work force development," Brake said. "This most recent one is important because so many jobs nationally and locally are really tied to professional services and the financial sector is a growing sector here."

Brake said as jobs become available Owensboro residents should be able to snap them up, and this certificate helps make that possible.

"It's a really good pathway that aligns with where jobs are going both locally and nationally," Brake said. "The jobs are really out there. You're seeing these kinds of things present themselves. Students can actually start in high school in this pathway, so it presents a lot of options, and it's general enough so that it doesn't pigeonhole students as they climb the educational ladder."

A ribbon cutting is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. today for the new U.S. Bank loan servicing center. About 215 people will be moved into the new building, which should be open for business by Monday.

“Buck$ for Bright Ideas” the Owensboro Region's Innovative Business Idea Competition

2011-03-16T13:54:00.000-05:00

Buck$ for Bright Ideas is a publicly funded program that encourages residents in our region of the state to move forward with their “bright ideas.” Many people in our part of the state have innovative ideas that could become the foundation for a new business. Some of those people need help moving forward toward commercialization. The eMerging Ventures Center for Innovation is here to help with that effort. Our business development experts will work with you to turn your idea into a business reality!

Complete a simple application and compete for over $25,000 worth of valuable prizes. There will be multiple winners who will receive free services from regional professional firms for market research, patent research, accounting support, product design help and more. All applicants are eligible to receive one-on-one assistance with their idea at no charge! All ideas submitted will be held in strict confidence.

The application deadline is April 15. An awards banquet for all participants is planned for April 28 at 6:00 PM at the Innovation and Commercialization Center located at the WKU Center for Research and Development at 2413 Nashville Rd. in Bowling Green.

For more information on the program and an application form, go to www.BucksForBrightIdeas.com. You can also contact Madison Silvert at eMerging Ventures. Phone: 270.663-1050. Email: msilvert@owensboro.com.

US 231 opening brings Owensboro one step closer to I-64/ I-65 Corridor Connector

2011-03-16T08:49:00.000-05:00

The completion of the four-lane US 231 from the Natcher Bridge in Owensboro to Interstate 64 in Dale, Indiana has brought the region one step closer to the interstate system.

As Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels cuts the ribbon to open the Indiana side today only a 2-mile stretch of the Owensboro By-Pass Extension project remains to complete the 100-mile, four-lane route connecting I-64 in Dale to I-65 in Bowling Green.

The Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Corporation are marketing this new four-lane route as the Interstate 64-65 Corridor Connector. The Owensboro exit around Kentucky 54 and the new hospital will be at the mid-point of this corridor.

"This will become Owensboro's exit on the national interstate network," said Nick Brake, President/CEO of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp. "The commercial development along this corridor should be significant for this region."

The Natcher Parkway will eventually become an interstate spur connecting to I-65.

"We are well on our way to transforming Owensboro from a community that has traditionally been considered somewhat 'transportation poor' to one that is fully intermodal," said Chamber of Commerce President Jody Wassmer.

Ribbon Cutting Tuesday on US 231 Corridor in Indiana

2011-03-15T09:22:00.002-05:00

DALE, Ind.—The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) Vincennes District will celebrate the opening of the new U.S. 231 Corridor with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 1:30 p.m. local time, Tuesday, March 15. The event will be held at the new U.S. 231 and State Road 162 interchange.

WHO: Governor Mitch Daniels, INDOT Commissioner Michael B. Cline, Vincennes District Deputy Commissioner Rusty Fowler, and local officials

WHEN: 1:00 p.m. (local time) Tuesday, March 15

WHERE: The new U.S. 231 southbound lanes, on the southwest side of the interchange.

WHAT: Opening of the new four-lane U.S. 231 Corridor in Spencer County. Governor Mitch Daniels’ Major Moves project improves safety and mobility of motorists using U.S. 231. Construction of the new corridor provides a wider, safer roadway for motorists.

PARKING: Please follow staff on site for parking location.

INDOT reminds motorists to follow the posted work zone speed limit, use caution and consider worker safety when traveling through a construction zone. For the latest news and information about INDOT, please visit www.in.gov/indot.

GO-EDC seeking Downtown Project Manager

2011-03-03T13:56:00.001-06:00

The Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corporation is seeking a Project Manager to coordinate investment attraction efforts for downtown Owensboro. Qualifications: Bachelor’s or advanced degree required. Experience and/or education in planning, urban development and/or business development preferred. Competitive compensation based on applicant’s experience and qualifications. Submit cover letter and resume to edc@owensboro.com

EDC releases community video for marketing

2011-02-17T16:20:00.000-06:00

By the Messenger-Inquirer

Published: Tuesday, February 15, 2011 12:02 AM CST

The Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp. has launched the first in a series of new community videos as part of a marketing effort to attract new businesses, young professionals, entrepreneurs and college students to the region.

The first edition of the video highlights Owensboro as a small town with big-city amenities, said EDC President/CEO Nick Brake.

"It is part of an aggressive viral marketing effort including social media promoting the region to new potential residents and investors," Brake said in a news release.

The video incorporates social media such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Brake is encouraging residents to participate by sending it to at least five people from out of town.

The first video highlights the community's four colleges for use as a tool to recruit college students. Additional videos will focus on business and entrepreneurship, young professionals, family life in Owensboro and the region as a destination for retirees.

The video was produced by Owensboro-based Fleck Media.

"Our goal was to show Owensboro in a new light. We wanted culture, education and livability to be strong themes throughout," said Dave Docimo, Fleck's creative director and owner. "We wanted to give the viewer a sense that there is a lot more to discover here."

It can be viewed on the EDC website, edc.owensboro.com, or on the Owensboro EDC YouTube channel at the following link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO2evaIvNHQ.

Magazine examines Owensboro's economic development

2011-02-17T16:18:00.000-06:00

Published: Tuesday, February 15, 2011 12:15 AM CST

By Steve Vied, Messenger-Inquirer

Owensboro's high-profile, high-dollar efforts to spur its economy and rebuild itself -- from downtown revitalization to the building of a new hospital and a sprawling bank mortgage service center -- are the subject of a lengthy article in the January edition of The Regional Economist magazine.

The magazine is a publication of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Freelance writer Susan C. Thomson, a frequent contributor to the magazine, was in Owensboro in November gathering information and taking photographs. Her article examined Owensboro's economic history and how things have changed from the days when General Electric employed more than 6,000 people and Green River Steel prospered.

Published as one of the magazine's regular community profiles, the article carried the headline of "Federal Funds, Tax Increase Help Owensboro Shore Up Its Economy." Thomson began the piece with a description of the $40 million federally funded downtown river wall project, which is nearly finished. It was designed as an effort to control erosion caused by the flow of the Ohio River through a giant bend at Owensboro. It notes that Sen. Mitch McConnell secured the funding in 2005.

From there, the author moved to 2008 and the unveiling of a downtown master plan and 2009, when city and county governments approved 4 percentage point increases in the local insurance premium tax rates, with the additional revenue dedicated to funding a $79.4 million downtown revitalization program.

Thomson quoted Nick Brake, president of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp. saying that growth of existing companies is contributing to local growth. To illustrate his point, the article described the steady expansion of U.S. Bank's Home Mortgage division, which began as a local startup business. It also had information about First Security Bank's local expansion.

Brake said the article was an accurate and positive review of economic developments in Owensboro. The moves by U.S. Bank Home Mortgage and First Security Bank are what probably caught the magazine's attention, he said.

Brake said the EDC is currently involved in aggressively marketing the community. Articles like the one in "The Regional Economist" can help because it complements what the EDC is trying to do, he said.

"It's good coverage and certainly an accurate depiction," Brake said.

According to the article, a combination of state and city incentives, "speedily arranged," resulted in an offer by the city to build an 81,000-square-foot building and lease it back to U.S. Bank for 20 years at below-market rates.

The first phase of that building is nearing completion at Tamarack and Carter roads in the MidAmerica Airpark. Eventually, 500 jobs will be created at the call center.

Bob Smiley, executive vice president of U.S. Bank Home Mortgage, said the article is good for his company and good for Owensboro-Daviess County.

'The article centered on the good things in Daviess County," he said. "From the standpoint of a direct benefit to us, as we expand, the more people know about Owensboro, the better for us. Within our organization, Owensboro is on the map. But a lot of people don't know about us."

Smiley said he appreciated the article's focus on downtown revitalization.

"To me, the most important thing is the revitalization of downtown," he said. "All that's going on downtown is a huge draw for this area. It really told the story of what Owensboro has to offer. I think (Thomson) really did capture what is coming to reality."

Mayor Ron Payne said the article is more evidence that positive news about the city is getting out. He noted that a recent Lane Report, a Kentucky publication, is devoted to economic activities in Owensboro.

"All the activity that is happening here is radiating throughout the country," Payne said. "This (Thomson's article) is more of the same. That is why it is so important that we finish what we have started."

Tracing the growth of OMHS (then Owensboro-Daviess County Hospital) back to its 1995 merger with Mercy Hospital, the article stated that the hospital has increased employment by 1,200 since then and will add another 300 jobs by the time the $385 million replacement hospital opens between Pleasant Valley Road and Daniels Lane, and then add another 200 or so jobs after that, according to CEO Jeff Barber.

The article stated that U.S. Bank and OMHS had "serendipitously evolved over the years into job-creating powerhouses" with current combined employment of more than 4,400.

A significant portion of the article was devoted to the emergence of plant-based pharmaceuticals research at OMHS-owned Kentucky BioProcessing, bought with the help of a $6.4 million loan from the state's tobacco settlement fund. The plant in the MidAmerica Airpark received a $17.9 million U.S. Department of Defense contract and has grown from six workers to 32.

The article also described these developments:

* Construction of the U.S. 60 bypass extension, using equal parts state and federal funds.

* Downtown revitalization and the progress of the convention center and the 150-room downtown hotel that will sit next to it.

* First Security Bank's decision to keep its headquarters in Owensboro and expand its downtown headquarters (aided by state incentives).

* Larry and Rosemary Conder's campaign to fix up downtown buildings.

The entire article and seven photos accompanying it can be seen in the magazine's online edition at http://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/re/articles/?id=2061

EDC Video: Viral Marketing Effort focusing on Attracting Businesses and Talent to Region

2011-02-14T14:20:00.000-06:00

The Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corporation (GO-EDC) launched the first in a series of new community videos as part of a marketing effort that will target the attraction of new businesses, young professionals, entrepreneurs, and college students to the region.

EDC President/CEO Nick Brake said the first edition of the video highlights Owensboro as a small town with big city amenities. “It is part of an aggressive viral marketing effort including social media promoting the region to new potential residents and investors,” said Brake.

The first version of the video highlights the four colleges in the community for use as a tool to recruit college students to the region. Additional videos will focus on business and entrepreneurship, young professionals, family life in Owensboro, and the region as a destination for retirees.

The video was produced by Owensboro-based Fleck Media. Dave Docimo, Creative Director and owner said it was an honor to develop a concept that supports our hometown. “Our goal was to show Owensboro in a new light. We wanted culture, education, and livability to be strong themes throughout,” said Docimo. “We wanted to give the viewer a sense that there is a lot more to discover here.”

The video can be viewed on the EDC website (edc.owensboro.com) or on the Owensboro EDC YouTube channel at the following link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO2evaIvNHQ

The video incorporates social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The EDC encourages all that view to participate in the viral marketing effort by sending it to at least five people from out of town.

Jobs search: EDC uses a number of approaches

2011-02-10T16:21:00.002-06:00

By Joy Campbell, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Sunday, February 6, 2011 12:02 AM CST

We need good-paying jobs.

That has been a common statement at forums in Owensboro.

And economic development officials at local, regional and state levels across the country are incorporating a number of approaches to find those jobs.

One of the models is relatively new to Kentucky.

*
The Emerging Ventures Center for Innovation and its bricks-and-mortar companion, the Centre for Business and Research at 1010 Allen St., now hold a relatively new place within the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp.'s long-term strategy.

Emerging Ventures, which is also called an innovation center or IC, is integrated in the state's innovation-driven economic development strategies.

This focus on innovation, however, is in addition to the traditional model of competing to win industries through tax breaks or other incentives such as cheap land or loans.

The EDC's website shows that agency's three main goals are to grow and diversify the regional economy, innovate and educate, and develop the community to attract people.

"It's a three-legged stool," said Madison Silvert, the EDC's executive vice president and Emerging Ventures' executive director. "If all you do is compete for plants, you can't sustain your economy."

What is an innovation center?

In 2000, the state passed the Kentucky Innovation Act. Soon after that, a Department of Commercialization and Innovation was created within the Cabinet for Economic Development. The DCI focuses on high-tech companies -- creating them, recruiting them and retaining them.

The DCI's goal is to create products, new companies and jobs for Kentuckians.

The state has six regional Innovation and Commercialization Centers (ICCs) and seven local Innovation Centers (ICs).

Emerging Ventures is Owensboro's IC.

Until last year, Owensboro's center was called a Kentucky ICC satellite, not a full-fledged IC. The main difference was the level of funding.

"We had to show that we had the stuff here," Silvert said. "The EDC raised the funds, and with the help of OMHS, U.S. Bank and the Messenger-Inquirer, we started our center."

Most people don't realize that companies such as MPD Inc. hold numerous patents, and Kentucky Bioprocessing has significant intellectual property, he said.

The push for Owensboro's innovation infrastructure came after Kentucky Bioprocessing ran out of space to lease to other high-tech companies in its area of plant-based therapeutics and pharmaceuticals.

"Even if the demand for this wasn't already here, it needed to be, and we needed the infrastructure to support it," Silvert said. "For three years, we demonstrated to the state that the demand was here and that a number of innovators were here and could use the help."

In 2010, the Owensboro IC became an equal with the other six state-sanctioned centers, and its funding increased to about $70,000.

Open for three years now, the center's resources are available in the Commerce Center at 200 E. Third St. It is a one-stop shop for people who want to start or are on their way to start a business, Silvert said.

The resources include access to the Senior Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), which offers coaching and mentoring, and the Murray State University Small Business Development Center, which has been in Owensboro for about 30 years and can assist with business plan development and more.

"If you have an idea for a business, this is a great place for you," Silvert said. "We have a wide range of services for start-ups."

Another even more recent piece of the region's innovation efforts is the Entrepreneurship and Business Academy, one of five academies within the new Community Campus plan that will be offered through four regional school systems.

"We hope to create the next generation of entrepreneurs," Silvert said. "Big companies here, like WaxWorks and Titan, were started by local entrepreneurs. We want them to know that we support them and have a place where they can grow. And education is a big part of that."

Successful local companies will have a point at which they ask whether Owensboro is the place where they want to grow, Silvert said.

"We want to make sure we have the work force ready so that we can say, if you want to grow, you should do it here," he said.

Business accelerator poised to take off

The EDC leases about 37,000 square feet of space for the Centre for Business and Research from developer Malcolm Bryant, who owns the former tobacco warehouse. The center, also called a small business accelerator, is modeled after WKU's much larger facility.

Silvert said Batavia, N.Y., is recognized as having the first business incubator in the U.S.

"There is a fine line difference between a small business incubator and accelerator," he said.

The difference apparently is found in the support services the centers provide and other contract relationships with clients.

Western established its small business accelerator about nine years ago and now has 17 clients that employ a total of about 400 people.

The Bowling Green center is in a renovated former mall with more than 300,000 square feet of space.

The largest employer is a call center providing 300 jobs. Some of the companies are one-person operations.

Doug Rohrer is the new director of Western's Center for Research and Development and has been on the job a little more than a month.

"I would say the small business accelerator is robust, very successful," he said. "We're about full and will need to renovate more of our space soon."

Companies that start or move into the Bowling Green center receive finished out space with access to multiple conference rooms and high-speed Internet at attractive rates, Rohrer said.

"They also get advice and support. We connect them to the appropriate university staff to get expert counsel," he said.

Western's business school, for example, can help them create business plans. "The goal is to grow companies and create jobs for Kentuckians," Rohrer said.

The traditional economic development model didn't give weight to finding high-tech companies, he said.

"The Innovation Act provides the framework for this," he said. "Everybody would like to have a new Google or Facebook. These companies come up fast and grow fast. The whole innovation system is about finding those kinds of companies."

Hitcents.com still growing

One of those fast-developing high-tech companies in the Bowling Green business accelerator is Hitcents.com.

Hitcents, the center's first tenant, now employs 33 people.

Ed Mills and his twin sons, Clinton Mills and Chris Mills, started the company in 1999 when the younger owners were 16 years old.

"They were working at Steak 'n Shake and said we've got an idea," said Ed Mills, who is the company's chief financial officer. "I said great, let's run with it. And they never looked back."

The company, which started in web design and programming, now has five divisions and is still working by its motto, "dare to dream it real," Ed Mills said.

Hitcents still offers web design, but it also creates software and can provide software packages that can manage multiple business functions.

The company recently received approval for up to $150,000 from the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority to help in buying information technology infrastructure equipment.

That investment helped Hitcents launch a new enterprise resource planning product, Omniprise, on Feb. 1 which was five years in development. This is expected to create about 10 new jobs.

As expected, its website has all the details.

Ed Mills said when the time came for his sons to go to college, Hitcents already had national corporations as clients.

"WKU President Gary Ransdell said, 'We want to give you entrepreneurial scholarships and try to entice you to go the center and be our first tenant,' " Ed Mills said. "That was the best decision we made."

The CFO said Bowling Green's business accelerator gives the company access to Western's professors for collaboration and provides an extensive support system.

"With that, we feel like we have a long arm that can reach out at any given opportunity," Ed Mills said.

Hitcents was number 191 on the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing companies in 2007. Clinton Mills was one of only four CEOs on the list under age 30.

Owensboro's center also growing

Owensboro definitely is in the game, Rohrer said.

Western now has two full-time assistant professors in food processing and biology opening research offices in the Owensboro center. The university has a food manufacturing degree that was developed for the Owensboro campus.

This model recognizes that ideas flowing from the students and professors could turn into start-up companies.

Hollison Technologies, a start-up biotech company, was the first tenant in the business and research center. The company describes its business as providing unique products and services for food protection and the detection of contaminants in the food supply chain.

The company earned a $50,000 investment from the Emerging Ventures Seed Fund and a $200,000 investment from the Kentucky Science and Technology Corp.

Kevin Humphrey started the company along with partners Doug Wood of Island, Eric Dodd of Evansville and Tony Bashall of Massachusetts.

The company has an office in Boston.

Silvert expects to have five clients in the center by the end of this year. Two of those are Alisha Hardison, owner of Dalisha's Desserts, and Joshua Vandgrift, owner of Owensboro Consulting and Business Services.

Hardison wants to open a dine-in business as well as to fill custom orders for individuals and businesses, sell products online and operate as a wholesaler to local restaurants.

Vandgrift's consulting firm provides direct consulting services such as web design as well as connects start-up companies with what he calls top-notch freelancers to help them maximize profits.

At the state level, the Kentucky Science and Technology Corp. has a contract to manage the whole innovation network. The company provides training for Silvert and other innovation center directors, financial modeling and other support.

Kentucky Science and Technology Corp. also has analysts that look at deals submitted by state start-ups to determine if they are good investments.

Other pieces of the innovation model include potential funding sources including the Kentucky New Energy Ventures Fund; Rural Investment Fund (for companies not based in Lexington or Louisville) and the Kentucky Enterprise Fund.

Owensboro's innovation center is part of the Central Region Innovation and Commercialization Center, and Rohrer also serves as the executive director of that network managed through Kentucky Science and Technology Corp.

Western's Center for Research and Development includes seven research labs in which different university departments conduct applied research.

The center will be hosting a grand opening in March for a scanning electron microscope that has the largest chamber of any similar technology in the U.S., Rhorer said.

"In the world of electron microscopes, this is huge," he said. "We will be selling space and time on it and expect a lot of interest in it."

Private and public universities and colleges are affiliated with Owensboro's center.

The University of Louisville, for example, will collaborate with the center through Nucleus, the Life Science Innovation Center on its campus.

Nucleus will provide resources for start-up high-tech companies in business planning and information technology. New companies also can use U of L's buying power of to help control expenses in health insurance and other areas.

"All of these programs are working together to foster innovation and support entrepreneurs to increase their chances of success," Rohrer said.

OMHS earns Clinical Excellence award

2011-01-27T10:33:00.005-06:00

By Rich Suwanski, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Thursday, January 27, 2011 12:08 AM CST

HealthGrades named Owensboro Medical Health System a Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence for the third straight year on Wednesday, putting the hospital among the top 5 percent in the nation for clinical performance.

The HealthGrades Hospital Quality and Clinical Excellence study identified hospitals with the best overall clinical performance across all 26 medical diagnoses and procedures that the organization rates. OMHS is among a group of 268 hospitals receiving the award, and one of only two Kentucky hospitals to receive it. St. Elizabeth's in Edgewood was the other.

OMHS is also ranked No. 1 in Kentucky in three specialty areas, according to HealthGrades. They are joint replacement surgery, such as total knee replacements, critical care, which includes treating patients with diagnoses such as blood infection and respiratory failure, and medical treatment of gastrointestinal issues, such as bowel obstruction.

"It's a great validation for us for all the quality initiatives that we're doing," said Dr. Robert Schell, a general and vascular surgeon and chairman of the OMHS Board of Directors Quality and Safety Committee. "It's really nice when we get an award, but we're not doing this for the awards, but because it's the right thing to do.

"It's important that people can come to a hospital where they realize they're going to get quality care and safe care."

HealthGrades is an independent health care ratings organization that studies patient outcomes in about 40 million hospitalization records from about 5,000 nonfederal hospitals in the United States that participate in the Medicare program. It evaluated hospitals solely on clinical outcomes, risk-adjusted mortality and in-hospital complications from 2007-09. Risk-adjusted means patients with like conditions are compared.

Getting the clinical excellence award for the third year placed OMHS among a group of 16 United States hospitals achieving it. It received the Patient Safety Excellence and the Outstanding Patient Experience awards in the past year.

"We use a team concept idea," Schell said. "Everybody has a role to play in creating a culture for quality and safety. We're all working together for the same objective."

In 2002, OMHS' mortality rates were worse than the national average in expected patient outcomes, and the hospital undertook several quality-improvement initiatives, including improving patient outcomes for joint replacements, heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, chronic lung disease and the reduction of incidence of infections, blood clots and pressure ulcers from skin breakdown.

"We still have a number of long-term goals," Schell said. "We want to improve our care of stroke and educate the public about getting people having a stroke to get to the hospital quickly.

"We're also looking at improving medication safety because a lot of people across the country are hurt by medication errors. We're working hard to eliminate them in the hospital, and making sure that patients understand what they're on and the dose when they go home."

Schell said electronic record-keeping, which OMHS is moving toward, can help eliminate some errors.

Moore will test new coffee shop concept

2011-01-20T09:38:00.000-06:00

By Joy Campbell, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Thursday, January 20, 2011 12:08 AM CST

Don Moore is putting a new concept coffee shop called Overflow inside his Chevrolet Cadillac dealership 3232 Villa Point off Kentucky 54.

The coffee shop will serve not only his car-buying customers, but also the public.

And half of the proceeds from the shop's sales will benefit Owensboro's homeless shelters.

Moore and his family came up with the idea at dinner as a way to give back to the community, he said. His son has done the design work for the shop.

"The idea for 'Overflow' is that a person might come into the shop, and we want them to leave 'overflowing,' " Moore said. "We talked about doing something different at our dealership, something fun, but also give back."

Knowing the new building on Kentucky 54 featured a drive-through sparked some creative family dinner conversation.

The talks touched on a company that sells coffee beans with profits going to stop human trafficking. That led Moore and his family to a concept that would differentiate their coffee shop from others.

To start, the shop's proceeds will help local homeless shelters. Moore said he and his wife spend some volunteer time at St. Benedict's Homeless Shelter.

"Hopefully, as time goes on, we can let our customers dictate where the money goes," Moore said.

The shop will have its own entrance and drive-through service.

It will open for the Moore dealership's customers at the end of February. The target for having the drive-through open is early March.

Susan Anderson is taking the lead on the project.

"We want to create an atmosphere for people to get a quality cup of coffee on the way to work or any time," she said. "It's a situation in which we feel blessed, and we want to share that with the community."

The shop will seat 20 inside and have outdoor seating in spring and summer.

The drive-through will be on the left side of the car dealership.

Anderson was interviewing prospective employees this week. "We'll probably hire eight to 10 to begin with," she said. "We're not really sure what level of business we will have at first. Our morning drive-through business probably will be exceptional."

Moore thinks the shop will catch on. "I feel like it's something people will want to get involved in," he said. "And I hope it will break even after giving to the organizations."

Patti's Resale celebrating 40 years in business; glad to be downtown

2011-01-20T09:36:00.002-06:00

By Joy Campbell, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Thursday, January 20, 2011 12:08 AM CST

After Patti Acquisto moved back to Owensboro in 1969 she began offering some of her no-longer-wanted clothes for re-sale at a consignment shop in a small house at Fifth and Triplett streets.

She also shopped at the store, finding bargains at every turn. The woman loves a bargain.

After a few months, she started working there part time.

One day the owner asked if she wanted to buy the store, and she did with her brother providing the stake she needed. That was in January 1971.

And she has turned the venture into a 40-year career.

Today, Patti's Resale is downtown at 105 W. Second St., and Patti Acquisto and her daughter-in-law and co-owner Martha Acquisto are excited about the future of their business.

They are "sitting in the catbird seat in the historic district watching the downtown come alive," Patti Acquisto said.

Two years ago, Patti Acquisto sort of retired from working in the business. She spends only from three to four hours at a time there when her daughter-in-law asks her to fill in.

She goes to the store primarily to shop. But she also does the store's promotions and is chairwoman of the We Are Downtown merchants organization, which she organized soon after the new store's opening.

"I don't miss the work, but I really miss the people," she said.

She said she has completed "a great cycle of service" -- selling a generation their prom dresses, wedding gowns and maternity wear.

"I love to see those moms who have shopped with me come into the store with their babies in their arms," she said.

Martha Acquisto loves the resale business in general. Her mother used to shop at Patti's store. Martha and Patti Acquisto's middle son dated when they were in high school before their marriage.

"I've always been around and appreciated what the business is," Martha Acquisto said.

She has a bachelor's degree in human environmental sciences and has worked in retail with jobs at the GAP, Gymboree and The Limited.

The younger Acquistos moved back to Owensboro 13 years ago, and once their children were older and more independent, Martha Acquisto started working with Patti.

Two years ago, she became co-owner.

"Patti knew she didn't want to do this forever, but she knew she wanted the business to continue," Martha Acquisto said. "Slowly, it transitioned to what it is today."

It took awhile for Martha Acquisto to build a rapport with the regular customers and consignors.

"There is a certain amount of trust involved, and she has a good reputation from having been in business 40 years," Martha Acquisto said. "I want to keep that trust."

When Patti Acquisto started in the resale industry, consignment shops had an image problem, she said.

"The community here had not bought into the concept yet," she said. "I set out to change that. I wanted to let people know that resale shopping was socially acceptable and the fundamentally prudent thing to do. I've been doing that ever since."

While she has experienced industry trends over her career, the basic concept at Patti's Resale has not changed, she said.

The consumer gets half of what the item sells for, if it sells within the time frame listed in the contract. And the business is operated professionally, Patti Acquisto said.

"We pay everybody (consignors) every month with a check that we mail to them," she said. "There is no cost to them for that, and we include a list of what they're being paid for."

Consignors can pick up any items that don't sell.

Donations from Patti's Resale are given to the Baptist Center at Ninth and Lancaster and the Salvation Army.

Multiple stores, locations at first

In the early years, the store used a manual system of sales and inventory -- everything was written down in 12 ledgers.

The inventory was logged, and then much of the same information was written on the merchandise tag.

She also paid her consignors in cash during those first years.

"As the years went by, we got smarter," she said. "We paid by checks and then computers came along to simplify things."

She added a friend to work at the store, and in the first two years of operation, Patti Acquisto often paid her one employee when she couldn't pay herself.

Patti's survived shoplifters, thieves (including some employees), burglaries, robbery at knifepoint, a tornado and growing competition from consignment shops cropping up in the mid-'90s.

Her husband's illness and death marked a particularly difficult time.

After 10 years of business at the former Cornell's Restaurant on New Hartford Road, she bought the downtown store that was built in 1890 and was home to Woolworth's in the '50s and '60s.

The service of longtime employees has helped the Acquistos' business to thrive, the owners said.

For a number of years, Patti Acquisto worked with two sets of clients -- the consignors "who wouldn't be caught dead" buying from the resale racks, and the customers who clamored for bargains.

"As the years went by, consignment and resale became more acceptable, and these two have merged," she said. "They're both buyers."

When Patti's branched into resale furniture, that opened more than one new market for the business.

"People came to buy used furniture to furnish a dorm room of a child going to college or a summer home, and they, too, wouldn't have wanted to be seen looking for used clothes," she said. "But they looked around the store at other things and bought items."

Both Acquistos said NARTS, the Association of Resale Professionals (formerly the National Association of Resale & Thrift Stores), has provided them with a professional network.

Patti Acquisto served one four-year term as president and is the current treasurer.

"Martha and I go to the conferences and teach seminars and give keynote speeches," Patti Acquisto said. "We meet our peers, continue to learn and improve our skills."

Martha Acquisto said Patti's Resale stacks up better than most of the shops she has visited when attending conferences in Atlanta, Palm Beach, Fla., Boston and various other cities in California and Texas.

"People tell us that our store looks like a real store," Martha Acquisto said. "The clothing section is like a big closet to me. I get to look at what comes in

New shoppers joined the faithful during the recession, but most of their customers are repeats, she said.

"Some of our customers come back each week because they know the inventory changes," Martha Acquisto said.

She also enjoys the foot traffic the current location affords as people travel downtown for an event or to another store and decide to check out their store as well.

"I can't imagine being anywhere else," Martha Acquisto said. "I look at what comes in and get to get to decide what I get to highlight."

The store often sells name brands that shoppers can't find in Owensboro, another plus, she said.

Resale, consignment growing

"The industry has certainly come a long way in the 26 years our association has existed," said Adele Meyer, executive director of NARTS. "Historically, the resale industry has been recession-proof. When the economy is down, we thrive."

Now a multibillion dollar industry, resale has been growing by about 5 percent per year, measured by the estimated number of stores opening each year, minus the business closings, she said.

The NARTS 2010 Operating Survey, based on figures the organization's members provided, shows a growth in net sales of 12.7 percent in 2009 from 2008, the strongest sales year in the past five years.

Retail sales overall were down 7.3 percent in 2009 from 2008, according to data NARTS reports from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Meyer attributes some of the growth to an increased awareness of the value of recycling and reusing. Consignors can make money on their used items instead of adding them as waste. And the tax benefits donating to not-for-profit thrift stores also is attracting some customers.

But the potential for finding bargains is still the main reason for the industry's uptick, Meyer said.

Consumers also have made resale shopping a pastime.

Joy Campbell, 691-7299, jcampbell@messenger-inquirer.com

Learn more about Patti's Resale at www.pattisresale.com or follow the store on Facebook.

Check out more information about the national resale industry at www.narts.com.

Official: Center could bring 1,000 jobs

2011-01-20T08:35:00.002-06:00

By Steve Vied, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Wednesday, January 19, 2011 12:00 AM CST

The proposed $45 million Heartland Crossing shopping center project, which the Owensboro City Commission moved to annex into the city Tuesday, will bring 750 to more than 1,000 jobs to the community, a city official said.

City Commission members unanimously approved a municipal order at City Hall authorizing Mayor Ron Payne to execute an agreement with Heartland Crossing's owners that would allow the 65-acre development to be annexed into the city.

Under the proposed agreement, the city will reimburse the developer for the cost of building facilities dedicated to public use, with the amount of the reimbursement not to exceed the total of property, occupational and net profits tax revenues derived from the property for a period of five years.

The arrangement falls under the standard annexation incentive program the city has used for many years to bring residential and commercial developments into the city.

When Payne asked City Attorney Ed Ray how many jobs the development will create, Ray answered that the developers have said the number of direct jobs would be 750.

An evaluation by the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp. found that the total number of jobs created as a result of the project will be slightly more than 1,000, according to Ray.

The project is expected to begin this spring, city officials said.

"This is an exciting development which will create added jobs," Payne said. "We are really pleased to see this community continue to grow."

Heartland Crossing, which is at 2404 and 2412 E. Parrish Ave. next to the U.S. 60 bypass, was announced almost three years ago. Plans call for a 276,700-square-foot main shopping center surrounded by 16 outlots for restaurants, banks, offices and a hotel.

A Menards home improvement store is reportedly among the businesses that will locate in the development.

Also Tuesday, the City Commission heard first reading of an ordinance amending the budget to set aside funds for several maintenance projects and construction of a $275,000 replacement recycling center on West Seventh Street. No objections were raised to the ordinance by commission members. It will be voted on at the Feb. 1 meeting.

WKU adding research offices, labs

2011-01-19T14:27:00.002-06:00

Centre for Business and Research expanding
By Joy Campbell, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Wednesday, January 19, 2011 12:00 AM CST

Two full-time faculty members from Western Kentucky University-Owensboro are establishing research offices and labs in the Centre for Business and Research at 1010 Allen St. as part of an expanded partnership between the university and the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp.

The researchers' work in biology/biotechnology and food science is all about growing companies and growing jobs in Owensboro, WKU President Gary Ransdell and EDC President Nick Brake said Tuesday at a news conference in the Centre.

"Our faculty is challenged to work with communities to solve problems, and those are different for each community," Ransdell said after the announcement. "The economic development leadership here has identified niches and sectors in biotechnology, food services, health care and agriculture manufacturing. We need to make sure WKU-O has the faculty and degree programs to support those."

The EDC is establishing the Centre as a 38,000-square-foot business incubation and research facility. It's modeled in part after Western's 300,000-square-foot innovation center in a former Bowling Green shopping mall.

High-tech, start-up companies devoted to food science, plant biotechnology and life sciences can rent office and/or lab space in Owensboro's center.

"In less than five years, hundreds of employers have gone through that Bowling Green center," Brake said. "The professors and researchers work hand in glove to make that happen."

Owensboro has been competitive in cost for infrastructure factors such as land and electricity, but talent and technology also are driving forces for infrastructure in today's economy, Brake said.

Universities began playing key roles in economic development after federal legislation in 1980 gave them control over their research and intellectual properties such as patents.

"Owensboro was once forced to the sidelines because we didn't have a university in our backyard," Brake said.

Western is now helping to fill that void for Owensboro, he said.

Chandra Emani, an assistant professor of biology, already has an office in the Owensboro center, and Hanna "John" Khouryieh, assistant professor, food processing, will be establishing his office.

Both professors teach at WKU-O.

College and high school students interested in these applied research areas will be able to get hands-on, relevant experience in the labs .

Ransdell told the group of community leaders and educators that a shift is taking place in where economic development is occurring in Kentucky. It's not just occurring in the golden triangle of Lexington, Louisville and northern Kentucky.

"I'm not sure what that geometric shape is coming from Louisville to Bowling Green and Owensboro/western Kentucky," Ransdell said.

WKU-O is helping Owensboro grow the population of baccalaureate degree holders, while also helping to grow the economy, he said.

"It won't do any good to produce more degree-holders if we're not focused on their relevancy," Ransdell said.

WKU-O is focused on health care and biotechnology and food science and also those general courses leading to degrees.

This partnership is part of the Memorandum of Agreement among WKU, Daviess Fiscal Court and the EDC.

Ransdell commended the Owensboro partners for taking a risk to create the first building on the new WKU-O campus. That action has created a model in Kentucky for state universities, he said.

University of Louisville President James Ramsey and other university and community leaders announced Nov. 12, 2010 that U of L also will help in forming and growing health care, food service and agricultural companies that start at The Centre for Business and Research in Owensboro.

U of L will offer its support through Nucleus, the Life Science Innovation Center.

U.S. Bank building progressing

2011-01-18T11:03:00.000-06:00

By Steve Vied, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Monday, January 17, 2011 12:05 AM CST

With the deadline for completion six weeks away, work is moving at a quick pace on the U.S. Bank Home Mortgage building at Carter and Tamarack roads in the MidAmerica Airpark.

A&K Construction of Paducah is building the 47,900-square-foot, single-story call center for the city of Owensboro, which will lease it to U.S. Bank Home Mortgage, the mortgage servicing arm of the financial institution.

The deadline for the building to be finished is March 1, and an official monitoring its progress said meeting the deadline remains possible.

In early December, Tony Cecil, the city's operations manager, said the exterior wall framing on the structure was 95 percent complete, and 75 percent of the building was enclosed and roofed.

Much more progress has occurred since then. Last week, according to the city's most recent project update report, installation of drywall was proceeding. Exterior weather protection using DuPont Tyvek housewrap was about 85 percent installed. Exterior brick installation had started on the south side of the building but was progressing slowly because of weather.

Meanwhile, above-floor plumbing installation was about 90 percent complete, and the sprinkler system had been roughed in. Installation of heating, ventilation and air conditioning ductwork was about 85 percent finished, and interior electrical rough-in had been finished.

Mike Ranney, president of RBS Design, the architectural firm hired by the city to be the construction manager on the project, said the building is now completely enclosed and under roof. Meeting the March 1 completion date remains a good possibility, he said, but even if the building is not completely finished by that date, U.S. Bank can begin installing furniture and equipment at that time.

"They are still shooting for March 1, and it will be close," Ranney said of A&K's efforts to finish the project on time.

When the first phase of the building is finished and the approximately 33,100-square-foot second phase is eventually built on the 13.5-acre site, U.S. Bank Home Mortgage intends to employ 500 or more people at the location by 2014, bank officials have said.

Cruisers Classic Diner opening inside mall

2011-01-18T10:58:00.002-06:00

By Joy Campbell, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Saturday, January 15, 2011 12:10 AM CST

Cruisers Classic Diner is hoping to be open Jan. 21 in Towne Square Mall in the space next to Macy's that previously was home to Route 66 Diner.

The eatery will offer burgers and hand-dipped shakes and classic '50's and '60's-style diner food, as well as a variety of other classic dishes such as catfish, steak, fettuccine and more, said owner David Dukes of Madisonville.

"I'll have an Italian beef sandwich that has been a real good seller for me," Dukes said. "I can make that one in my sleep."

Dukes' parents, Tommy and Patricia Dukes, were in the restaurant business for about 40 years, and the kids grew up in it, he said.

This will be Dukes' fourth restaurant. He sold all three businesses and took about a four-year break to work in law enforcement.

Dukes' sister bought his last Cruisers diner and changed the name to Tommy D'z in remembrance of their father, who died in recent years.

"I didn't think I would get back into it," Dukes said. "My sister was in Owensboro looking at the space, and we were talking about it. She decided it was more than she wanted. I told her I was going to go look at it. ... The next thing I know, I've got it. It happened pretty quick."

The new restaurant will have 2,923 square feet of retail space.

Dukes said he's never had a restaurant in a mall setting, so he's on uncharted ground with that.

"I've spent quite a bit on the building, so I'm hoping this will go well," he said.

The restaurateur is waiting on some new signage and other decorative items, so the opening date is somewhat flexible.

A few more recent changes have taken place at the south Frederica Street shopping mall, but so far no tenant has signed on for the space once occupied by Ruby Tuesdays, said Daymon Ward, the mall's general manager .

"We are still in talks with retailers about the Ruby Tuesday's space, but thus far, the right fit hasn't been found," Ward said. "It is a fantastic retail opportunity for someone; they just have to be the right fit for the mall."

Next door to the soon-to-open Cruisers, The Relax Center already is open for business offering acupressure and reflexology massages.

Yummies snacks, serving "take it to go" food, also is open across from FYE music and movies at the mall's front.

Wright Implement opened in expanded space Thursday between Hibbett Sports and Maurice's. The business went from center court space of 1,489 square feet to 2,490 square feet.

Kay Jewelers will be occupying the space Wright had, which will boost their space from 1,066 square feet to 1,489.

Company buys Ice Makers of Owensboro

2011-01-18T10:52:00.000-06:00

By Joy Campbell, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Friday, January 14, 2011 12:03 AM CST

Clark Restaurant Service, Inc./CRS OneSource has bought Ice Makers Inc. of Owensboro.

The purchase will add $800,000 to CRS OneSource's annual beverage sales and equipment leasing programs, said Steve Clark, president of the restaurant service.

Total CRS sales in 2011 are projected to be $73 million.

Ice Makers' owner Chris Steele is joining CRS as the new beverage program specialist, and four of his five employees also have joined the company, Clark and Steele confirmed.

One employee decided to return to his hometown near Chicago, Steele said.

"This is just a great matchup," Clark said. "Chris has built a strong business over the years and has a great reputation."

Steele, who started Ice Makers 24 years ago, said the sale is a wonderful opportunity.

"CRS is a great company to work for," he said. "We'll be able to take my business to the next level and beyond. There is so much support here and so much more product to sell."

Steele started his business selling icemakers from November to February and then added the sales of juices and Coca-Cola to restaurants, bars and convenience stores. His company also leased a lot of icemakers.

Ice Makers' five employees covered western Kentucky from Elizabethtown to Paducah, northern Tennessee and southern Indiana.

"Now I'm looking for 24 years at CRS," Steele said.

CRS has about 160 employees in Owensboro, western Kentucky, Evansville-southern Indiana, Illinois and Louisville.

The expertise Ice Makers has developed with carbonated beverages and juices will enhance CRS's coffee/espresso/tea and juice programs, Clark said.

"Chris will be filling a void for us; we've never had a beverage specialist," Clark said.

CRS sells a lot of coffee, and in most cases, the company provides the equipment for people to brew the coffee. Other beverages also require specialized dispensing equipment.

Steele will monitor that as well as oversee the sales of all beverage products requiring dispensing equipment.

The acquisition positions CRS to offer fountain service, in particular, to its regular customers. It also opens some new doors for CRS, Clark said.

"We've expanded our territory in recent years, but there is always business in your own backyard," Clark said. "We're real excited about this."

Clark's grandfather, Marvin Clark Sr. started Clark Restaurant Service in Owensboro in 1948.

The older Clark was a restaurateur who had to go to the butcher when he needed meats and to other locations for supplies or equipment.

"There was not one place where he could go to get what he needed," Clark said. "Those were days when guys had real vision."

He talked about getting in his panel truck and parking it on Main Street and making calls, Clark said.

"In those days, he called on a cafe, a hotel and made about 15 calls," he said.

The company president has his grandfather's sales ledger that shows he sold $1,800 worth of goods in August 1948.

"He never looked back," Clark said.

CRS OneSource is a member of Unipro Foodservice distributor purchasing group. The company maintains an inventory of more than 8,000 items including dry and frozen groceries, fresh meats, produce, dairy and disposable products, cleaning supplies and equipment.

Work to begin soon on roads for hospital

2011-01-18T10:47:00.000-06:00

By Steve Vied, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Thursday, January 13, 2011 12:07 AM CST

An 11-month project to widen portions of Pleasant Valley Road and Daniels Lane to three lanes on either side of the new Owensboro Medical Health System hospital is scheduled to begin Jan. 24, construction officials said Wednesday during a meeting with residents.

A quarter-mile section of Pleasant Valley Road, which will include the building of a new bridge over Yellow Creek, will be widened first and is expected to be finished by July 1. It will be closed throughout the construction period. Traffic will be detoured to Daniels Lane and Hayden Road and U.S. 60 East.

The new section of Pleasant Valley Road, starting at a point just south of the CSX tracks near the entrance to Lloyd's Mechanical, will connect to a spur of the U.S. 60 bypass that has been built to provide primary access to the hospital. The new 140-foot, three-span bridge will be built 3 feet higher than the existing bridge to keep it well above the flood plain.

Daniels Lane will be converted to a three-lane road with four-foot sidewalks on both sides from U.S. 60 East to a point about 0.65 miles from U.S. 60 East. Two entrances to the hospital will be built on the widened sections of Daniels Lane.

The new hospital is due for completion in 2013. Construction manager Merrill Bowers of Turner Construction said recently that the hospital is on schedule.

The Daniels Lane project will begin as soon as the Pleasant Valley Road project is finished, and it is expected to be completed in December, said Matt Miller, project manager for Turner Construction. Scott & Murphy Construction of Bowling Green is the contractor for the road projects.

The informational meeting on the road projects was held at St. Pius X Catholic Church and drew only a handful of residents and a few elected officials. A few questions were asked following a brief slide show, but no serious concerns or complaints were offered. Some Daniels Lane residents said they were looking forward to the improvements.

"I believe it will be OK," said Dorothy Johnson of 631 Daniels Lane. "I think it will suit me fine. New sidewalks on both sides of the road will be great."

Widening Daniels Lane to include a center turn lane and building sidewalks on both sides of the road also sounded good to Ann Payne of 613 Daniels Lane. The road now has sidewalks only on the east side.

"I think it's a great thing," she said. "It will be nice to have three lanes."

Scott & Murphy Inc., received a $5 million contract for the road improvements. The paving work in that package will be done by Yager Materials of Owensboro.

Owensboro airport is key to attracting businesses

2011-01-13T11:09:00.002-06:00

By Dave Kirk
14WFIE

DAVIESS CO, KY (WFIE) - A top official from Kentucky's Transportation Cabinet says Owensboro's airport will be a key to attracting new businesses to the area.

Deputy commissioner Henry Lackey told Green River Development officials that having an efficient airport with regular flights attracts companies and brings in new jobs.

Lackey says, "Aviation is a major part of any type of industrial economic development improvement. If you don't have a nice infrastructure that includes aviation and a nice facility that's another mark against your county."

Lackey says the longer runway at Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport is a step in the right direction to bring more business opportunities to western Kentucky.

January 6, 2011 State of the City Presentation

2011-01-07T14:42:00.000-06:00

M-I readers pick bank's 500-job expansion as top story

2011-01-05T12:06:00.000-06:00

By Keith Lawrence, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Saturday, January 1, 2011 12:12 AM CST

There was plenty of bad news in 2010, as there is every year.

A 13-year-old girl was killed in a hit-and-run accident, four members of one family died in a fire, the region baked in a drought and heat wave, eight violent deaths were reported in a region that is usually known for its lack of violent crime and "homelessness" became a household word.

But readers of the Messenger-Inquirer chose good news -- U.S. Bank Home Mortgage's announcement that it would add more than 500 jobs here in 2011 -- as the top story of 2010.

Other good news in the top 10 includes Owensboro Medical Health System's starting construction on a $385 million hospital, downtown development and 3G phone service coming to town.

Here's the list.

1. U.S. Bank Home Mortgage adds 500 jobs

In July, U.S. Bank Home Mortgage, already Owensboro's largest private employer with more than 1,000 workers, announced it would add more than 500 jobs here.

They will work in a new 81,000-square-foot, $5.4 million building that is being erected by the city at the entrance to MidAmerica Airpark.

The city will lease the building to the company.

2. Hit-and-run death

Thirteen-year-old Madalynn Matlock was struck by a vehicle March 6 while walking on Old Kentucky 54 in Philpot.

She died four days later.

More than two weeks later, an investigation led to the arrest of Jeffrey John Kotarek, 46, who is charged with murder and leaving the scene of an accident.

3. West Parrish Avenue fire

An early morning fire in August at a house on West Parrish Avenue took the lives of Wendy Devine, 35; her two children, Ryan Devine, 2, and Jerry Devine, 3; and her father, Jerry Marsh.

Investigators believe the fire was accidental and originated in a chair in a living room near the back of the house. But the cause could not be determined.

4. Drought

Despite thunderstorms that dropped 3.97 inches of rain in May and 3.66 inches in July, western Kentucky saw little rain from August through October.

By early December, the region was 15 inches below the normal rainfall.

Daviess County had moved into the "extreme" drought category -- the second worst of five levels -- in early November.

Seventy-eight days last summer saw the mercury climb above 90 degrees. Eight of those days were between 100 and 103 degrees.

Millions of dollars' worth of crops burned up in the field.

The state declared the drought over in early December, not because rainfall had caught up. Nothing grows during the winter anyway, state officials said.

5. OMHS breaks ground

In early June, 1,500 people attended Owensboro Medical Health System's official groundbreaking for its new hospital between Daniels Lane and Pleasant Valley Road.

The 150-acre plot will eventually be home to a nine-story, 447-bed facility, costing $385 million.

Construction will create 1,000 to 1,500 jobs over the next three years. And 800 hospital jobs are expected to be added over the next five to 10 years.

6. String of violent deaths

Once an area known for its lack of violent crime, the Owensboro region saw a string of killings in 2010.

In February, five men were charged in the shooting death of Joshua E. Newcomb, 23, who died at his home in Maceo.

Darrell S. Simmons, 59, was charged with murder in an August altercation that led to the death of Richard H. Melton, 48.

Paul Wayne Miller, 45, was indicted on a murder charge in the death of Richard Scott Embry, who was found dead in his home Nov. 12.

Donna Marie Gaines, 49, of Cromwell was charged with murder in November in the death of Gregory Keith Sigler, 52.

Police believe Carl W. Ward, 66, of Hartford killed himself after he shot and killed his estranged wife, Barbara Ward, 66, in October.

Timothy R. Cheatham, 51, of Central City was charged with murder, driving under the influence and driving on a DUI-suspended license in the September death of Cathy Ward, 41, also of Central City.

Michael A. Johnson, 36, was charged with murder July 13 for allegedly shooting Charlotte Brown in the back with a 12-gauge shotgun.

And Michael W. Callahan, 27, was charged with one count of murder-domestic violence in the death of his 5-month-old daughter in August.

7. Downtown development moves forward

City and county officials began making progress in 2010 in their $120 million downtown redevelopment project.

In January, the Malcolm Bryant Corp. was selected to build the signature hotel -- a $20 million, 150-room Hampton Inn & Suites.

That same month, a steering committee was created to oversee the planning, development and construction of a downtown convention center.

By the end of the year, the committee had selected an architect and recommended hiring a private management firm to operate the facility.

And work on the new river wall along the downtown riverfront was nearing completion.

Sites for the hotel and convention center were selected in 2010.

The hotel is scheduled to be built where the old jail was once located on St. Elizabeth Street, and the convention center will be where the main tower of the Executive Inn Rivermont once stood.

8. 3G comes to Owensboro

After years of waiting and frustration, the Owensboro region finally received AT&T's 3G broadband network in December.

The service was praised by economic development officials as a key to regional job growth in an information-dependent economy.

But local customers complained that AT&T offered the service in more than 370 metropolitan areas before it reached Owensboro.

9. Homelessness

In March, local homeless shelters reported they were having to turn away more than 100 people each month.

There was simply no more room, they said.

Daviess County Judge-Executive Reid Haire and Owensboro Mayor Ron Payne appointed a task force in May to study the issue.

Homeless people set up a tent city they called The Last Resort in a backyard on Walnut Street in June.

St. Benedict Joseph Homeless Shelter, which had only been open during the winter months, decided to open year-round.

But shelters are still overflowing this winter.

10. Election 2010

The November election not only shook up the federal government, it also brought significant change locally.

Both the Owensboro City Commission and Daviess Fiscal Court will have three new members this year.

For the first time, all four members of Fiscal Court live in the city. And for the first time, there's a Republican majority on the court.

And state Sen. David Boswell, who had served in various offices in state government for more than 30 years, was defeated by Republican challenger Joe Bowen for the 8th Senate District seat.

Honorable mention

The region's unemployment rate missed the top 10 by one vote. The closing of the General Electric Motors and HON plants, both of which had been strong employers for decades, missed by six votes.

Number of passengers increase at Owensboro airport

2011-01-05T11:52:00.000-06:00

Dave Kirk – 14WFIE

OWENSBORO, KY (WFIE) - More passengers are choosing to fly out of the Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport.

Airport officials say it's been a banner year and they're hoping for even bigger numbers in the new year, if they can land some extra flights.

Ever since the Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport started flying to Orlando, their number of passengers has grown. The highest since 1951.
When Bob Whitmer took over as the airport director, he says his main goal was to make sure the airport better served the community.

Whitmer says, "The airport is a public airport. It's here for community service and you know you gotta have something for the residents for the Tri-State for this airport to be functioning and now we have that."
Whitmer says the airport has had it's best year to date reaching record numbers of passengers.

Whitmer says, "The boarding's at the Daviess County Regional Airport are up 60 percent over last year. We expect with in the next few days to be beyond 16,000.

The reason for the growth?

Bob Whitmer says, "Allegiant Airlines is a very attractive low cost carrier. It's direct flights to Orlando. We hope to have direct flights to Las Vegas in the near future."

Travel agent Joy Miller thinks Vegas flights would bring more people into Owensboro to fly than ever.

Miller says, "I've had very many people come in and ask about Vegas. It's going to bring in a lot more to this community I think."

Whitmer says the ball's in Allegiant Air's court when it comes to Vegas flights.

Whitmer says, "We've done everything they've asked us to do."
So what's the hold up?

Miller says, "I'm thinking mainly, it's how many flights they have a day."
Whitmer says they should know some time early next year if the Vegas flights will become a reality. In the meantime, airport leaders are doing everything they can to make the airport more attractive.

Whitmer says, "Our terminal's rather small and it's been an issue as far as our holding area. We've already worked on some designs. There's a gift shop that's opened up that's serving refreshments and food."

Travel agent Joy Miller predicts the cost of a ticket to Vegas nonstop from Owensboro to be just a little more than flying to Orlando. That cost $39 one way.

Owensboro has large share of Tri-State economic success in 2010

2011-01-04T08:24:00.002-06:00

EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE) - Every year there are positives and negatives effecting the local economy but it's safe to say there were some big swings in 2010.

It's not breaking news that times are tough and there were some obvious downers on the local job front, but there is also some positive news that might leave reasons for optimism in 2011.

As the Evansville Arena blossoms into an architectural wonder downtown, some 670 construction workers are on the payroll.

And when the arena opens late next year, over 500 people should have full time jobs.

In addition, and just under the wire for 2010, the arena got some company when the city picked Woodruff Hospitality to build a new the 220 room Hyatt Place Hotel right next door.

It should be finished in the spring of 2012.

Evansville's Berry Plastics is about to put the wraps on a $150,000 project with 360 new positions created.

It's been a good 15th year for Casino Aztar which was approved for a new license, came out of bankruptcy, and in July started operating 24 hours a day during the week.

The EVSC is moving on up.

New buildings, like the Cedar Hall Community School, has just been completed, and the new North Middle and High School project is on track.

Ivy Tech's Evansville campus had it's largest enrollment on record this fall.

Officials at the Gibson County Toyota plant said due to increased demand, they will soon be hiring workers for 53 new positions.

Across the river, things are also looking up. US Bank has hired 500 new employees and now has 1,600 on the payroll.

First Securities has announced that they are making their corporate headquarters in Owensboro.

Pinkerton Tobacco is keeping 300 jobs in Owensboro.

Century Aluminum in Hawesville plans to hire 100 new employees.

The new potline is expected to be restarted early next year.

Massey Coal says two coal plants are coming to McLean County bringing more than 600 jobs to the area.

Construction of the new Owensboro Medical Health System complex is keeping local eateries cooking.

Business at the Heartland Cafe is up 30-40%.

Our economic diversity has helped the Tri-State weather some economic storms.

"We are not at all dependant on one particular industry," financial expert Tricia Hollander said. "We've got a little bit of the auto industry of course we've got two great universities, we've got Ivy Tech the third university. We've got the hospitals. So that diverse employer base is really a benefit when you go through a real challenging environment."

On the downside, Whirlpool, an Evansville manufacturing icon is gone and so are 1,100 jobs.

Mead Johnson also moved 50 sales and marketing positions to their Illinois headquarters.

For the first time in more than 30 years, Evansville's annual Thunder on the Ohio hydroplane boat races were canceled, because the cost had grown beyond it's budget.

So overall, reviews on 2010 are mixed but movie goers to the new Showplace in Henderson, and next year in Princeton, might give it a big thumbs up.

EDC releases Dates for Inaugural Economic Development Citizen Academy

2010-12-21T11:28:00.002-06:00

The Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corporation has released the schedule for the inaugural Economic Development Citizen Academy. The schedule is as follows:

January 27, 2011 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Commerce Center- topics include an overview of the Owensboro economy and new business attraction

February 17, 2011 6:30 to 8:30 at the Advanced Technology Center at OCTC- topics include existing industry retention and workforce development

March 17, 2011 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Centre for Business and Research- topics include business startup and incubation and placemaking

The Academy is an effort to continue to encourage public involvement and understanding of economic development. EDC President/CEO Nick Brake said over 20 citizens have already signed up for the program, but spaces remain.

The program is modeled on the successful Citizen Academy programs used by the City of Owensboro and the Owensboro Police Department.

The sessions will offer comprehensive insight into the strategies and ideas of modern economic development. Participants will get a behind the scenes view of the economic development process, dialogue with leaders from local businesses about the regional economy and visit amenities such as the Centre for Business and Research.

The EDC anticipates offering the academy program annually. For more information or to sign up for the Economic Development Citizen’s Academy visit http://edc.owensboro.com/about/Citizen_Academy or call 926-4339.

Jagoe Homes honored nationally

2010-12-13T12:48:00.002-06:00

By Joy Campbell, Messenger-Inquirer

Published: Sunday, December 12, 2010 12:04 AM CST

Jagoe Homes has been named national Builder of the Year for 2010 by Professional Builder magazine.

Owensboro brothers and partners Bill and Scott Jagoe are featured on the cover of the December issue available Wednesday.

The Jagoe Homes team has focused on processes over the years, and that has allowed the company to deliver more value than customers saw years ago.

And they've done it during a national recession while continuing to beat industry benchmarks for net margins.

That's Bill Jagoe's take on what caught the attention of the magazine's evaluators.

The company was in contention with eight to nine companies nationwide for the honor.

The builders were surprised to earn the title even though they have caught national attention before with "six or seven articles written about us in national publications over the last two to three years," Bill Jagoe said.

The Jagoes confirm what the magazine article points out -- that the Owensboro region is not typical of the national housing market.

"We didn't have the fast appreciation of homes and the flipping, and our foreclosure rates were not as high as other areas," Scott Jagoe said. "Foreclosures have increased, but they didn't double. In some areas they doubled and tripled."

In addition, while Owensboro has suffered significant unemployment, the region has not had the staggering job losses that other parts of the country have endured.

"For every new job that's added, there's a home built," Scott Jagoe said.

Even though the company has been cost-effective for many years, the continued work to streamline processes over 10 years or more has resulted in eliminating unnecessary steps and waste, the Jagoes said.

"When you pull out costs or waste, you can add value back in," Scott Jagoe said.

At a time when homebuilding is less than robust across the country, Jagoe Homes' market share is increasing, the brothers said.

Just a couple of years ago, 2.1 million to 2.2 million homes were built annually in the U.S. About 400,000 were built this year.

Many companies either retracted or closed up shop altogether. Bill Jagoe estimates there are at least 40 percent fewer builders today than before the recession hit.

In 1985 when the Jagoes started the business, the company built from 30 to 40 homes in that half-year cycle.

This year, it will finish about 280 homes selling in the range of $130,000 to $450,000

The number of homes built has gone up and down with the market. The company completed its highest number, 365, in 2003-04.

Today, Jagoe's builds primarily in Owensboro, Bowling Green, Newburgh, Ind., Evansville and Louisville. Annual revenues are about $47.3 million.

Jagoe Homes stays on top of its industry through market research and consulting, the brothers said.

Examples of value-added items for homeowners are EnergyStar certifications and sodded lawns -- which are included in the price, the brothers said.

"There are 15 items required to get a home EnergyStar-certified, and they add cost," Scott Jagoe said. "But we added EnergyStar without costing the homeowner an extra cent."

The Jagoes are fourth-generation builders. Both remember starting on job sites with their father at age 12. Scott was tasked to pick up trash. Bill said his first job was working with a bricklayer.

Both are Daviess County High School grads. Bill went on to Murray State University, and Scott earned a degree in real estate and construction management from the University of Denver.

Jagoe Homes has 56 employees. Counting subcontractors, it takes from 300 to 350 tradespersons to build a home, Bill Jagoe said.

Scott and Bill Jagoe say they likely will increase the amount of building on-site in the coming year.

The company also is developing the 650-home Deer Valley subdivision on U.S. 231. That project was shelved for three years when Jagoe's seized an opportunity to build in Lake Forest, Bill Jagoe said.

The streets and storm/sanitary sewers are now under construction.

Other opportunities also have surfaced including development of Paradise Garden in Newurgh, he said.

The Jagoes expect to expand within their markets and continue with the successful business model the company has developed. That includes bringing trades partners into the process and ensuring that they understand the expectations.

"We always seek out the best possible financing for our customers and shepherd them through the process," Scott Jagoe said. "We have five to six lenders we work with."

"We make the process easy for our customers. We took out the things that were clogging the system up," Bill Jagoe said.

Both Jagoes said they are starting to hear from builders across the country who want to see what they're doing.

They said they expect to continue to learn from their colleagues as well.

Joy Campbell, 691-7299, jcampbell@messenger-inquirer.com

On the Web

* Jagoe Homes - www.jagoehomes.com

* Professional Builder magazine - www.housingzone.com/pb/pubhome/

Red Pixel owners get Third Street property

2010-12-13T12:46:00.000-06:00

By Joy Campbell, Messenger-Inquirer

Published: Saturday, December 11, 2010 12:00 AM CST

Brothers Eric and Jason Kyle, owners of Red Pixel Studios, have bought the property at 111 E. Third St. and will move their company to the second floor of the 6,720-square-foot building.

The new owners paid $420,000 and closed the deal on the downtown building Thursday, spokesman Rob Howard said.

The Owensboro-based company formed in May 2001 and provides Internet solutions and design work for its customers. It is currently in rented space at 309 E. Second St.

"We've seen what's going on with downtown, with the (planned) convention center and riverfront and some restaurants opening up, and we're excited about the changes," Howard said.

Red Pixel Studios will move into the second floor with plans to rent the first floor. The investment in the building is a big step for the company, he said.

"A neat part of this story is that a couple of guys from Owensboro who were educated in Owensboro are investing in downtown Owensboro," Howard said.

The Kyles started Red Pixel as a printing and website design company, and over the years has developed numerous websites in western Kentucky and across the country.

This year, the company started developing iPhone apps (applications), launching the first one in February. Clients have included the Owensboro-Daviess County Convention & Visitors Bureau and Owensboro Catholic Schools.

Red Pixel now has about 20 apps in the Apps Store.

"We're excited with the success we've had and with the opportunity that's there," Howard said.

The company built an app framework called infoApp that allows it to produce "powerful apps and customize them efficiently, quickly and inexpensively" for customers, he said.

The majority of the apps developed so far have been for Kentucky tourism destinations. Red Pixel got the nod from the Kentucky Tourism Council and the Kentucky Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus to offer their member organizations customized iPhone apps.

The company also has developed apps for Owensboro restaurants The Miller House and Gambrinus and for The Chocolate Bar's two locations in Cleveland, Ohio, and Buffalo, N.Y.

"Considering how early we are in the development of the product, we are very pleased with our success," Howard said.

Howard is one of seven employees -- including Gustavo Ariel Molina Sequra, who is under contract and is clearing the way for Red Pixel to do business in Argentina.

Another Red Pixel employee, Pablo Gallastegui, came to the U.S. from Argentina to go to college and chose to attend the Kyles' alma mater, Brescia University. He has worked at Red Pixel for about four years.

Gallastegui introduced the Kyles to his friend, a computer programmer who has identified a market for Red Pixel in the Argentinian tourism industry, Howard said.

"Pablo is there in Argentina now visiting family and finding out what we need to do to legally do business there," he said. "The nice thing is that because our infoApp is flexible and powerful, we can develop apps for a wide variety of clients."

Fiscal picture 'very healthy,' Barber says

2010-12-13T12:43:00.000-06:00

By Rich Suwanski, Messenger-Inquirer

Published: Friday, December 10, 2010 12:54 AM CST

Owensboro Medical Health System is in stronger financial shape than it was a year ago, according to the consolidated financial statement released at its annual Report to the Community on Wednesday morning at the HealthPark.

OMHS showed a profit of $40.1 million in the fiscal year ending May 31, up $27 million from $13 million profit the previous fiscal year. Additionally, OMHS' investment portfolio showed an increase of $56 million as the market improved over the previous year.

"We're generating enough revenue to easily pay back our bond debt, and the interest and principle on that," said Jeff Barber, the hospital's president and CEO. "And we're continuing to build our cash-on-hand, which is important for hospitals.

"We're economically and financially very healthy, and we perceive that it will continue to be that way for several years."

Barber said it established a process that improved patient outcomes and helped control costs. He said better patient care resulted in fewer complications.

"When people don't get sicker in the hospital, those costs aren't there and that eliminates a lot of cost," Barber said. "And when you have people who are well-trained that do a better job a lot more efficiently, you don't have extra costs."

Total gross revenue for the 2010 fiscal year was $813.2 million, an increase of almost $91 million over the 2009 fiscal year. Net operating revenue was $416.3 million in the 2010 fiscal year, an increase of just over $43 million from 2009 fiscal year.

Meanwhile, OMHS' Community Benefit Program provided $16 million to the area in programs, health services, education, research and charity care. Representatives from two organizations receiving funds from the Community Benefit Program praised the hospital's work beyond its own walls.

Two Rivers Buddy Ball organizer Billy Shain told the 125 people in attendance at the morning gathering that OMHS' financial support enabled special needs children to play baseball and other sports.

"It's a social situation for them, to interact with kids like themselves," Shain said.

Dr. Mike Johnson, an Owensboro dentist, said the hospital's funding helped the Community Dental Clinic at Mayfair Square meet the needs of children and adults with limited resources.

"The hospital saw the need for it and funded it, and the children in Daviess County are eternally grateful," he said.

Barber trumpeted OMHS' quality accomplishments, including HealthGrades' report that listed it as one of 16 U.S. hospitals recognized for excellence in clinical, safety, women's health and patient satisfaction.

He said OMHS has continued growing as a regional health care option by, among other things, opening the Center for Women's Health and three clinics at Walmart stores in Owensboro, Henderson and Newburgh, Ind.

Barber also said OMHS offers a facility such as the HealthPark and programs to improve the community's health.

"Our goal is to keep you out of the hospital," he said.

Last year, OMHS had 482,000 outpatient visits, 17,000 hospital admissions and nearly 19,000 surgical procedures. The hospital employs 3,218 people, the largest employer in the state west of Louisville, he said.

"We're a growing organization, and we'll continue to grow because demographically, that's the way it is," Barber said.

Earlier this year, OMHS began construction on a new hospital at Pleasant Valley Road and Daniels Lane, due for completion in 2013. Construction manager Merrill Bowers of Turner Construction said the project is on schedule.

While many people bemoaned the summer's dry weather, it helped Turner excavate and erect steel.

"We've poured the first piece of the second floor (on Wednesday)," Bowers said. "The weather is a little cool now, so we've taken measure to take care of the concrete. The visible parts of the building are coming along.

"And we were able to pave the main roads before the asphalt plants shut down."

Bowers said to date, $46 million worth of material, equipment and contracts have been awarded to firms that have a Kentucky address and are within 50 miles of the job site. And even those that don't have an Owensboro address are using local labor.

Thursday's program also included Christmas songs performed by the Sutton Elementary School chorus.

Century will add jobs

2010-12-08T16:52:00.002-06:00

By Beth Wilberding, Messenger-Inquirer

Published: Wednesday, December 8, 2010 12:27 AM CST

Century Aluminum of Kentucky will add about 100 positions at its Hawesville smelter after announcing plans Tuesday to reactivate a curtailed potline.

Employees will be recalled, and new hires will be made for the positions, the company said. The potline, which is one of five at the plant, was curtailed in March 2009. At that time, about 120 union and nonunion workers were laid off.

The decision to restart the potline came because the Hawesville smelter is facing competitive cost pressure, according to Michael Dildine, a company spokesman.

"This was an important step in helping the Hawesville facility lower its costs on a per-ton basis and improve competitiveness," he wrote in an e-mail.

The potline is expected to restart in the first quarter of 2011.

Century Aluminum had shut down the potline "as a consequence of the cost structure of the plant and depressed aluminum prices," according to a company press release.

The company expects to have about 750 employees once the smelter is at full capacity, and about 600 will be represented by United Steel Workers Local 9423, Dildine wrote.

Most of the workers who were laid off in 2009 have been recalled.

The Hawesville smelter has a rated capacity of about 250,000 metric tons of primary aluminum annually from five potlines, the press release said. Restarting the idled potline is expected to increase primary aluminum production by about 4,370 metric tons per month.

"Bringing the Hawesville smelter back to full operating capacity will improve our competitiveness and help sustain continued operations," Hawesville Vice President and Plant Manager Matt Powell said in the press release. "We will begin preparations for restarting the idled potline immediately."

Hancock County Judge-Executive Jack McCaslin said the announcement was "kind of like an early Christmas present."

"With the occupational tax ..., it's going to boost our county up in getting some more taxes," he said. "It's hurt us, not only Century, but some of the other plants had some slowdowns in different areas. We've done way short of what we've normally gotten."

McCaslin estimated that the county has lost from $200,000 to $250,000 in occupational tax revenue because of unemployment. The Kentucky Office of Employment and Training said Hancock County's unemployment rate was 8.1 percent for October -- down from 10.7 percent in October 2009.

"It's wonderful news," McCaslin said. "It's going to really help our local businesses."

McCaslin and Mike Baker, executive director of the Hancock County Industrial Foundation, both said they hoped the potline restarting means the company has more business or new clients.

Century Aluminum and Local 9423 are still negotiating a new contract for the plant. Members of the union rejected the company's most recent offer in October, and Dildine said the company can't comment on the status of the negotiations.

The most recent contract expired at midnight March 31, and contract extensions expired May 6.

Officials tout 3G network arrival

2010-12-08T16:51:00.000-06:00

By Joy Campbell, Messenger-Inquirer

Published: Tuesday, December 7, 2010 12:49 AM CST

AT&T officials confirmed Monday that its 3G, or third generation, mobile broadband network is now available for its Owensboro region customers.

And efforts already are under way to make the 3G network even faster with a data access upgrade at the end of this year with a 4G rollout planned for 2012.

The current upgrade means AT&T customers now have access to the nation's fastest 3G network, which is 10 times faster than the 2G network they've been using, according to Jim Thorpe, vice president and general manager for consumer and mobility markets, AT&T Tennessee and Kentucky.

AT&T enhanced 28 cell sites in the region to be able to offer this latest progression of the mobile broadband network, he said.

Thorpe and other AT&T officials spread the word about several changes the company has made to its services during a news conference at The Centre for Business and Research.

Economic development leaders and city and county elected officials at the announcement praised the communications investment as a key to regional jobs growth in an information-dependent economy.

"Like highways are important for moving goods for the manufacturing industry, this technology is essential for so many information-based businesses," said Nick Brake, president and CEO of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp.

A new mortgage loan processing center under construction in the airpark, the hospital and other health care businesses are examples of the kinds of employers that need access to high-speed communications, he said.

The technology is an essential tool for the modern economy that is developing in Owensboro, Brake said.

Being able to have the 3G infrastructure is important to the kinds of start-up businesses that will be locating in the Centre for Business and Research, said Madison Silvert, the EDC's executive vice president.

"Corporations need this broadband service to grow their companies," Silvert said.

Hollison Technologies, the Centre for Business and Research's first tenant, has released an iPhone application that can test for food safety, he said. Other tenants scheduled to move in soon need the capability of communicating fast, he said.

Mobile banking is gaining popularity, and 3G service is essential for customers who want to use their cell phone technology in that capacity, said Darrell Higginbotham, Daviess County president of Independence Bank and past EDC board chairman.

For most customers, the 3G upgrade is all about what AT&T service allows them to do through their cell/mobile phones.

In addition to adding speed, these upgrades make AT&T's 3G network the most flexible, Thorpe said.

For example, if a boss calls an employee and wants a copy of a report, that employee can surf the Web, access e-mail accounts to find and send the report while continuing to talk to the boss.

Using competitors' services, the employee would have to hang up from the boss, find and send the data, and then call the boss back to confirm its receipt, Thorpe said.

"I've seen the advertisements, but our competitors can't do this," Thorpe said.

Other competitors have been offering 3G service in Owensboro for some time -- some for several years.

Thorpe also talked about why it took AT&T so long to offer 3G.

The Federal Communication Commission required the company to divest its spectrum in order to create a competitive wireless system. In doing that, AT&T didn't have enough capacity to keep its 2G customers going and to initiate 3G as well.

The spectrum is limited, and AT&T had to buy it on the open market -- essentially from a competitor.

"The network is here; it's late, but it's the best network you can have," Thorpe said.

In three years, data usage on AT&T's network has increased 5,000 percent, he said.

"This positions us on a level playing field with our competitors in Kentucky, Tennessee and across the country," Daviess County Judge-Executive Reid Haire said. "The businesses that have expressed interest in the centre have owners who are younger and are acutely aware of the importance of communicating. Their business depends on it."

AT&T also will be expanding its Wi-Fi network and will be making the 3G network even faster with another high-speed data access upgrade at the end of this year and 4G, or fourth generation wireless technology, rolled out sometime next year, Thorpe said.

The company also is opening a new 5,000-square-foot store at 5115 Frederica St. with 25 sales and customer service employees. It will be a device-support center where customers can ask questions about their phones.

"This is a first for Kentucky and Tennessee," Thorpe said.

Farmers Market Moving Downtown

2010-12-07T08:41:00.001-06:00

OWENSBORO, KY (WFIE) - The farmers market in Owensboro may move to a new location that officials say will make it more convenient and provide a better shopping experience.

The same consultants conducting a feasibility study on the Bluegrass Museum will also make a site plan on moving the Farmer's Market Downtown.

City leaders say they are looking into having the market on the north end of the state office building property.

One idea is to build a long pavilion with a canopy. County officials discussed funding the project $25,000 to get electricity and water lines to the facility once built.

Other funding will come from the state and ag-extension agency. The industrial development authority believes moving the farmer's market downtown will draw big crowds and become an asset to downtown's environment.

Many shoppers say the market's current location on old Hartford road is too far away.

Owensboro resident Shawn McHenry says, "It's kind of far out and it's really not accessible to a lot of people here in town and I think downtown it's on more of a bus route and for people that can walk can get to it."

Owensboro resident John Storm says, "I live on third street so it's not that far from my house anyway so it would be a great location for me."

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Brake, others praise Community Campus

2010-12-02T14:33:00.000-06:00

By Beth Wilberding, Messenger-Inquirer

Published: Tuesday, November 30, 2010 12:12 AM CST

About half of the jobs the country will need in 2015 have yet to be created -- but students are still being prepared for 20th century jobs that increasingly do not exist, according to Nick Brake.

The president of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp. discussed the need for a change in how students are educated at a news conference on the Community Campus program Monday in the Advanced Technology Center at Owensboro Community & Technical College.

The Community Campus is a partnership of several area school districts, the University of Kentucky, Western Kentucky University, OCTC, the EDC and several private sector entities.

Many in-demand skills can be part of a curriculum that blends the last two years of high school with the first two years of postsecondary education at a community or technical college, Brake told the group.

"The high school is now the front line in America's and Owensboro's battle to remain competitive on the international economic stage," Brake said.

A highly skilled work force is needed for the community to survive, Brake said. "We don't need to compete locally," he said. "We need to compete globally."

Community Campus is part of The Partnership for Next Generation Learning, a national initiative to rethink education.

The Stupski Foundation partnered with the Council of Chief State School Officers to create The Partnership for Next Generation Learning with the goal of transforming and improving public education, the Messenger-Inquirer previously reported.

The partnership created the Innovation Lab Network in six states: Wisconsin, Maine, New York, West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky. The Stupski Foundation has secured the financial support of several major corporations, including Microsoft, Cisco, Intel and Apple, the Messenger-Inquirer reported.

Daviess County Public Schools Superintendent Tom Shelton said during the news conference that Community Campus is one of the most exciting things he's seen in education. "We have all of the resources behind us to make this successful," he said.

Five academies will be featured through Community Campus: Theatre Arts; Science, Technology and Engineering; Entrepreneurship and Business; Construction, Trade and Energy and Life Sciences.

"They would compliment each institution while creating alternatives for students to better meet their needs and the needs of our region," Brake said.

The Theatre Arts; Construction, Trade and Energy; and Science, Technology and Engineering academies are scheduled to begin in the 2011-12 school year, according to Community Campus' website. The Life Sciences and Entrepreneurship and Business academies will begin in the 2012 school year.

The program is open to high school juniors and seniors in Owensboro Public Schools, Daviess County Public Schools, Owensboro Catholic Schools, Hancock County Schools and Trinity High School in Whitesville.

Students will continue to take some classes at and be involved in extracurricular activities at their "home" high schools.

All of the academies will use OCTC's Discover College program, which offers dual high school and college credit, Brake said. He said it is important for students to receive at least some postsecondary education.

Forty-two percent of the adult work force in the Owensboro area has some form of postsecondary education, which is 21 percent behind the national average and 12 percentage points below the projections for Kentucky in 2018, Brake said, citing a study by Anthony Carnevale of Georgetown University.

Based on those projections, the Owensboro region will have to increase its population with postsecondary education by 8,000 to meet the state projections and 15,000 to meet the national projections, Brake said.

Hancock County Schools Superintendent Scott Lewis said he hopes the program will help some of his county's students be better prepared to work at local industries.

Owensboro Public Schools Superintendent Larry Vick said Community Campus will give students opportunities that the schools can't provide individually.

To learn more about the Community Campus, visit www.communitycampus.me.

Daviess jobless rate dips to 8%

2010-11-29T14:19:00.000-06:00

By Keith Lawrence, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.

Nov. 25--Daviess County's unemployment rate dropped to 8 percent in October -- the lowest level here in nearly two years, the Kentucky Office of Employment and Training said Wednesday

The county's jobless rate hit 10.7 percent in June 2009 -- the first time it had been in double digits since July 1987.

It's been gradually falling since then, hitting 8.5 percent in September.

The last time Daviess County saw a rate lower than 8 percent was in December 2008 when it was at 7.1 percent at the beginning of what would become the Great Recession.

"That is good news," said Nick Brake, president of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp.

The good news should continue into 2011, he said.

"We've remained a bit below the state and national rates most months," Brake said.

The state rate was 9.3 percent in October. The national rate was 9 percent.

"Some of the increase in employment is from all the construction jobs in the county," Brake said.

Major projects include a new National Guard armory, U.S. Bank Home Mortgage call center and the hospital Owensboro Medical Health System is building.

"We're not satisfied yet," Brake said. "We're still working to get more jobs."

Only the Lexington metro among Kentucky's five metropolitan areas had a lower unemployment rate than the Owensboro metro in October.

Lexington's rate was 7.6 percent. Owensboro's was 8 percent.

The Louisville metro had the state's highest metro rate at 9.4 percent.

The state says the Owensboro metro area -- Daviess, Hancock and McLean counties -- has added 700 jobs in the past year.

The biggest growth, it said, was in government jobs -- up by 400.

That was followed by professional and business services, 200 jobs, and manufacturing, educational/health services and "other services," 100 each.

Some of those gains were offset, however, by the loss of 200 mining, logging and construction jobs here in the past year, the state said.

State records show a work force of 48,801 in Daviess County in October. Of those, 44,903 were working and 3,898 were searching for jobs.

All five counties in the Owensboro area saw unemployment rates in single digits in October. Muhlenberg was the only area county with a rate of more than 9 percent.

Ohio had an 8 percent rate; Hancock, 8.1 percent; McLean, 8.4 percent; and Muhlenberg, 9.3 percent.

The state said jobless rates fell in 113 of the 120 counties last month.

Woodford County recorded the lowest rate at 6.6 percent. Webster County had western Kentucky's lowest rate at 7 percent.

Magoffin County had the state's highest rate at 16.8 percent. Grayson County had western Kentucky's highest rate at 12.8 percent.

Statewide, "Six consecutive months of year-over-year job growth provides additional evidence of revitalization in the economy," Justine Detzel, the state's chief labor market analyst, said in a news release.

Unemployment statistics are based on estimates and are compiled to measure trends rather than actually to count people working, she said.

Across Kentucky, the professional and business services sector has added 8,600 jobs in the past year.

That's followed by manufacturing, 6,900 jobs; trade, transportation and utilities, 5,300; leisure and hospitality, 3,000; "other services," 2,200; educational and health services, 2,000; and mining and logging, 400.

But the construction industry lost 7,100 jobs in the past year, while government lost 4,200; financial activities, 2,100 and information, 600.

Quest to design convention center just starting

2010-11-15T12:48:00.000-06:00

By Steve Vied, Messenger-Inquirer

Published: Sunday, November 14, 2010 12:20 AM CST
About three years from now, the downtown Owensboro convention and events center is scheduled to open. But what the $27 million facility will look like is unknown. Even Trey Trahan and Leigh Breslau, the men who will lead the team that will design it, can't say.

"We just don't know," Trahan said. "It's unpredictable."

"We don't know the palate or shape, we've just really started," Breslau said. "There are lots of options with the site and a number of ways to respond to the riverfront and the rest of downtown. ... We're in the predreaming stage."

What Trahan and Breslau will say is that the building will be highly functional, appropriate for Owensboro, reflective of the culture and history of the community and will embrace its surroundings, especially the sweeping curve in the Ohio River that it will overlook.

And one more thing: It will be "exciting."

"We really want to create a building that is inviting to people and exciting," Breslau said. "That will take time."

The clock has started, and the design work that's expected to be completed about a year from now has begun. Trahan and Breslau, the principal members of Trahan Architects of Baton Rogue, La., and Chicago, and some of their associates on the project were back in Owensboro last week, talking to people, walking around the city and looking once more at where the convention center will be built, on the site formerly occupied by the Executive Inn Rivermont.

The Trahan architectural firm was selected in late October to design the convention and events center. Trahan is the principal architect in charge of the project. Breslau is the project architect.

Until a few months ago, Breslau was a design partner for Skidmore, Owings and Merrill architects of Chicago, where he led the arts and assembly design studio, focusing on performing arts and public assembly projects. He now oversees Trahan Architects' Chicago studio.

Breslau had a long and distinguished career at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. He led the design work on Millennium Park in Chicago and led the design teams for the 1.3-million-square-foot Zhongshan International Exhibition Center in southern China, the $254 million McCormick Place Phase 2 convention center expansion plan in Chicago (1.6 million square feet), the 800,000-sqaure-foot Suzhou, China, International Expo Center and the 558,000-square-foot Tanguu Hotel and Conference Center in Tianjin, China.

Breslau also led the team that designed the award-winning, $212 million, 500,000-square-feet-plus Virginia Beach Convention Center, which is considered a big success in that coastal city.

The Virginia Beach Convention Center is a glass-encased collection of structures, one with an elegantly curved exterior evocative of an airplane's wing. Every day, scores of military jets from nearby Navy bases streak across the sky above Virginia Beach. Inside the convention center are elevated meeting rooms covered in wood that suggest the shape of ships that are part of the city's shipbuilding heritage. Entering the convention center, visitors walk across wood planks, a nod to the docks that once were so much a part of the city's oceanfront landscape.

None of those elements are close to gimmicks, the architects insist, and gimmickry will not be a part of the Owensboro project.

"It's not about taking icons and attaching them to walls," said Trahan.

Or, as Breslau put it, Daviess County's tobacco-growing history will not lead to tobacco plants hanging in the lobby.

Actually, Trahan said the convention center will look more to the present and the future rather than the past.

"It should reflect this time, not times past," he said. "It should look forward. We hope time moves toward it. Grand Central Station in New York was considered a modern abomination, but now it's considered traditional and beautiful. I hope we can create something that is connected to place, uniquely reflective of the community."

"Looking forward is an optimistic view," Breslau said. "Some people are feeling optimistic about Owensboro, that Owensboro seems to be on the move. The RiverPark Center, this project and the downtown master plan, they are all very optimistic. This building should be the same."

Trahan said it is personally interesting to him how the Ohio River has carved a deep bend in its course at Owensboro, which may somehow be incorporated into the convention center's design.

From a purely practical standpoint, the design will emerge from an "architectural program" for the building, which defines what it must contain. It will identify spaces and how they should perform and function.

David O'Neal, chairman of Conventional Wisdom Corp., a consulting company that is working with Trahan on strategic planning for the Owensboro project, compared the architectural program to a recipe's list of ingredients. From those ingredients, the architects create a solution which becomes the convention center's ultimate design.

"Having done this before with David, we generally know what the pieces are," Breslau said. "We find our work in general emerges from what makes the building work. The design comes from that."

Some of what the convention center should contain is known. CityVisions of Louisville and ConsultEcon of Boston, consultants advising the city on the project, have recommended a building containing up to 138,350 square feet and featuring a 40,000-square-foot, dividable convention space, four ballrooms totaling 14,000 square feet and a lecture hall with tiered seating. A dramatic "river room" built on the former Showroom Lounge platform that projects over the Ohio River is a key element.

The architectural program will give the designers an early indication of its final cost.

"It allows us to address the budget, size and square footage," Trahan said. "Without designing a thing, we can know what the cost will be."

Spectacular views of the Ohio River from within the convention center is a central goal, the architects said.

U of L chief touts partnership

2010-11-15T10:49:00.000-06:00

By Joy Campbell, Messenger-Inquirer

Published: Saturday, November 13, 2010 12:02 AM CST

Owensboro start-up companies in life sciences areas such as health care, food service and agriculture will have a greater shot at success with a new partnership between the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp. and the University of Louisville.

The resources of Nucleus, the Life Science Innovation Center at the University of Louisville, now are available to help in forming and growing more companies that start at The Centre for Business and Research in Owensboro, U of L President James Ramsey and other officials announced Friday.

The Centre, still under development itself at 1010 Allen St., is an incubator for high-tech, life science companies. Companies can rent office and lab space there.

"We want to make it easier for start-up companies to be successful," Ramsey said following a news conference to announce the economic development partnership.

The EDC and U of L will identify opportunities for collaboration. In addition, new companies can harness the buying power of U of L to help control expenses in areas such as health insurance.

Nucleus will provide resources for fledgling, high-tech companies in areas of business planning and information technology.

U of L already has strong ties to Owensboro Medical Health System with a bachelor's degree RN program and ongoing cancer research through the Owensboro Cancer Research Program at the Mitchell Memorial Cancer Center.

The university also is a partner for drug development through Kentucky BioProcessing, a full-scale processing facility that extracts purified proteins and other value added products from plants and other organic materials.

In addition, about 270 students from Daviess County attend U of L.

The new relationship is a logical outcome of both partners' missions, said Vickie Yates-Brown, Nucleus president.

The partners will be able to "commercialize the research" that's already being done, allowing it to "go from the mind to the marketplace," Yates-Brown said.

Since the Bayh-Dole Act of December 1980, universities have become driving forces in economic development, Brake said.

That legislation gave universities and other entities control over their research and intellectual properties. Before that law, ownership of the patents or properties was always questioned.

The top 10 locations on any economic development ranking/index are around large research universities, Brake said.

Without the potential of gaining a research university, Owensboro began looking for partnerships, he said.

"We're thrilled to adopt U of L as our research university," Brake said.

Ramsey called Owensboro "a community that gets it."

Jobs of today are different than jobs of yesterday, and investment in education is necessary to be successful, he said.

The partnership is about positioning the community and the state to grow and prosper.

Owensboro still is seeking manufacturing plants that bring large numbers of jobs, Brake said.

Those companies benefit from tax breaks, while start-up, entrepreneurial companies need different support such as the fastest Internet connections and IT services and ways to control costs.

"It's a whole different model," Ramsey said. "That's what I like about Owensboro. It's here."

Ramsey also made visits to OMHS and several high schools on this trip to Owensboro.

The Centre for Business and Research won't officially open until next spring, but its first tenant, Hollison Technologies, already has moved in. Two more companies are expected to move in by the end of the year, with six established by the official opening.

At least one company already has heard about the new resources U of L is bringing to the Centre and wants to learn more, Brake said.

Brake said the next step for this economic development tool is to finish the facility.

Official: Company might add more than 500 jobs

2010-10-29T15:39:00.001-05:00

By Joy Campbell, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Thursday, October 28, 2010 12:27 AM CDT

The 500 jobs that U.S. Bank Home Mortgage announced in July it will add to its growing Owensboro work force "may not be enough" by 2014, and even more jobs may be added, Bob Smiley, executive vice president of U.S. Bank Home Mortgage, told the Owensboro Noon Rotary on Wednesday.

"As long as the economy continues to improve, we have real high hopes here," Smiley told the crowd of about 50 at the Owensboro Country Club.
The total compensation for the new U.S. Bank employees will be $12 to $14 per hour including benefits, base and incentive pay, he said.

Smiley said in an earlier interview that to get state incentives, U.S. Bank had to agree that 90 percent of the 500 employees would earn at least $10.88 per hour in base and incentive.

"We have an unbelievable professional staff, and most have been here a long time," Smiley said. "We hope we are giving opportunities to a lot of people here in the city."

The company's Owensboro work force numbers are at more than 1,000 not counting the 500 new jobs expected.

Hiring is expected to start next spring for the new location on 13 acres at Tamarack and Carter roads.
The expansion announced this summer was the second local work force growth spurt for the company in less than a year.

U.S. Bank built a 50,000-square-foot office in Highland Pointe off Kentucky 54 to accommodate many of the 300 employees hired in that earlier expansion.

The company's market share "is closing in on 5 percent," Smiley said.

"Behind that number is my group," he said. "When a loan is originated, we service that mortgage for the life of the loan."

In 2007, the mortgage loan company hit the $100 billion mark in mortgage loan servicing volume.
Last fall and again in December, company officials reviewed its rapid growth and work force numbers.

"In July, we hit the $200 billion mark, doubling in three years," Smiley said. "We were fortunate enough to get in touch with Nick Brake (CEO of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp.) and city and state officials, and they put together an unbelievable incentive package."

The city is building an 81,000-square-foot facility in the Mid-America Airpark, which the mortgage service division will lease.

U.S. Bank will invest more than $14.1 million over several years with this addition, officials said at the announcement. The package of state and city tax incentives together is valued at more than $6 million.

U.S. Bank is the sixth-largest mortgage lender in the country with $208 billion in loans and 1.4 million customers.

He told the Rotary group that U.S. Bank Home Mortgage traces its Owensboro roots back to 1976 with Lincoln Service Mortgage Corp., Firstar and Great Financial.

U.S. Bank Home Mortgage did not participate in the host of new subprime mortgage products that hit the market, such as "no document loans" in which lending companies didn't verify incomes or jobs.

Architect chosen for convention center

2010-10-29T12:30:00.003-05:00

Virginia Beach Convention Center designed by Trahan Architects

By Steve Vied, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Friday, October 29, 2010 12:12 AM CDT
The architectural firm that led the $200 million renovation of the Louisiana Superdome after it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina and also designed the $212 million Virginia Beach Convention Center was selected Thursday to design the downtown Owensboro convention and events center.

Trahan Architects of Baton Rogue, La., and Chicago was chosen from among 26 firms that sought to design the $27 million Owensboro facility that will sit near the Ohio River on the site of the former Executive Inn Rivermont.

Trahan's fee has not been determined. Negotiations to determine how much money Trahan will be paid to design the building, either on a percentage of construction cost or flat fee basis, will begin now and take up to six weeks to complete, Downtown Development Director Fred Reeves said.

But Trahan will actually begin working on the convention center design immediately, Reeves said.

At a meeting Thursday morning at City Hall, the Downtown Events Center Steering Committee voted unanimously to recommend Trahan to design the facility. Immediately following that meeting, the Owensboro-Daviess County Industrial Development Authority met and approved the steering committee's recommendation.

Trey Trahan, principal architect in charge, Leigh Breslau, project architect, and Brad McWhirter, project manager, all of Trahan, were on hand for the meeting. David Gamble, principal architect of the urban design firm Gamble Associates of Boston, and Edward Kruger, architect and project manager for Bravura Architects of Louisville, were also at the meeting.

Gamble Associates, which specializes in urban design, and Bravura are among the several firms that will team with Trahan on the Owensboro project. Bravura has a history with several downtown Louisville projects.

Daviess County Judge-Executive Reid Haire, chairman of the steering committee and a member of the subcommittee that recommended Trahan to the full committee, said Trahan was the clear choice of the subcommittee.

Four firms were brought to Owensboro for interviews.

"At the end of two days, the subcommittee was unanimous for this firm," Haire said. "We were extremely excited and energized by them."

Owensboro Mayor Ron Payne, a subcommittee member, echoed Haire. "This is a very exciting day," Payne said. "We are finally launching a project to replace the Executive Inn Rivermont and put something back on the river."

Barry Alberts, managing partner of CityVisions, the consulting firm that is assisting the steering committee throughout the planning and construction of the convention and events center, praised the selection of Trahan. "You really did find a firm that was right for your aspirations," he said.

Breslau, who led the design work on Millennium Park in Chicago, said the design for the convention center would be done by the fall of next year, making it possible to put the project out for construction bids in early 2012.

"We understand the urgency of the project," Breslau said. "As early as the fall of 2011 our documents will be complete. ... That is quick."

Trey Trahan said the team his company has assembled will focus on authentic architecture that reflects the identity of the community.

"We believe in embedding ourselves in the community with real, authentic architecture that is informed by the people," he said. "It will truly represent the community."

Breslau said the company intends to learn more about the area's history, culture, ecosystem, environment, important and historic buildings, the downtown revitalization project, traffic patterns and parking as it develops a design unique to Owensboro.

Trahan did not list any local partners, while some other firms did, Haire said. But Haire said the preparation Trahan put in gave it an advantage.

"With their ties to the southern part of the United States and their Chicago involvement ... we have some of the brightest individuals in the country to make this project succeed," he said.

Reeves would not identify the other three finalists for the design contract. Only one of the 26 proposals had a local firm playing a lead role, but several of the proposals contained involvement of local companies.

Breslau led the design team for the 1.3-million-square-foot Zhongshan International Exhibition Center in southern China, the $254 million McCormick Place Phase 2 convention center expansion plan in Chicago (1.6 million square feet), the 800,000-sqaure-foot Suzhou, China, International Expo Center and the 558,000-square-foot Tanguu Hotel and Conference Center in Tianjin, China.

CityVisions and partner consulting firm ConsultEcon of Boston have recommended a convention center containing up to 138,350 square feet and featuring a 40,000-square-foot, dividable convention space, four ballrooms totaling 14,000 square feet, a room overlooking the Ohio River and a lecture hall with tiered seating.

The request for qualifications from architects contained six specific goals for the convention center. They are:

* To create a highly competitive public assembly venue that will provide modern, state-of-the-art meeting and exhibition facilities superior to comparable communities in the region and attract the potential markets as specified in the feasibility study.

* To contribute to the transformation of the former Executive Inn site and reconnect this portion of downtown with the river.

* To institute a strong visual and pedestrian axis along Veterans Boulevard to the RiverPark Center that reinforces the downtown core.

* To serve as an icon for the community that celebrates the vision, vitality and progress of Owensboro's downtown revitalization.

* To optimize the efficiency of the facility's operations and maintenance.

* To emphasize sustainability and environmentally responsible construction and operational materials and systems.

Editorial: Insight Needed into Economic Efforts

2010-10-23T09:15:00.001-05:00

Messenger-Inquirer Editorial, October 23, 2010:

The economic downturn has turned up the rhetoric this campaign season about job creation through economic development -- even more so than during a typical year. Owensboro and Daviess County have fared better than many similar communities during this recession, though has still suffered from job loss and the sagging economy.

Economic development is a broad term that encompasses everything from direct incentives to bring companies to an area to more indirect methods that encourage the development or retention of businesses. Elected officials and candidates routinely state that economic development is a priority, but often that assertion is accompanied by few specifics.

Though generally agreed upon as the top goal for any community, many in the public know little about what generally and specifically economic development entails, or how to go about spurring on the economy, encouraging job growth and actively recruiting business.

That makes a new citizens academy established by the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp. an asset for this community and its understanding of how to approach economic development. EDC officials announced this week they will mirror citizens academy programs at the city and the Owensboro Police Department, with sessions beginning in January.

Because economic development is a diverse and broad field, any effort that better explains the processes this community uses to help propel the economy and encourage job creation is a benefit. Hopefully the sessions will offer more in-depth explanations of programs and processes like the ones used to help bring a new U.S. Bank Home Mortgage facility to Owensboro and with it up to 500 jobs. The public would do well to understand the variety of factors that go into promoting job creation and the attraction of new companies, like those factors at work in the downtown master plan and the "place-making" initiative.

Many of the deals worked out between the EDC and private businesses take place away from the public eye, often for good reason. Economic development officials frequently hold back details as deals are in the works -- perhaps unnecessarily sometimes -- and there is frequently little public understanding of how these deals are crafted.

But these deals routinely involve the use of the public's tax dollars, and this academy can bring a greater understanding to the public of why such incentives are needed, how the public investment is determined, and what the long-term payoff might be. At the very least, the opportunity for the public to learn more about economic development is likely to generate more interest in these activities in the future.

Economic development has changed in the past several decades, with a shift in focus away from attracting large-scale industrial companies as the economy itself has changed.

"Economic development" will continue to be a popular catch phrase, particularly for those running for office. A program like this can help ensure voters can better challenge candidates on what they mean by economic development, and how to bring it about.

This new citizens academy program should allow the public to better understand how this community can adapt to a changing economy, and can encourage residents to be more involved in the broader economic goals of where they live.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

EDC is launching citizens academy

2010-10-21T15:21:00.001-05:00

By Joy Campbell, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Thursday, October 21, 2010 12:12 AM CDT

The Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp. is launching a citizens academy this winter.

The academy, which EDC President Nick Brake says is intended to encourage public involvement in and understanding of economic development, will be the third such venue for public engagement.

The city of Owensboro has one, and so does the Owensboro Police Department.

The EDC's plan is to accommodate all residents who sign up. Brake expects to see interest in the sessions, but he doesn't think the numbers will be unmanageable.

"I think there will be a lot of interest; jobs are always a concern," Brake said. "And economic development has changed considerably in recent years."

The EDC will use the city's two programs as a model, offering three two-hour sessions from January to March.

Participants can expect to learn more about the strategies and ideas of modern economic development including a behind-the-scenes look at the EDC's process.

They also will talk with business leaders about the economy and visit the Centre for Business and Research and other EDC resources.

Brake hopes the academy will yield ambassadors for the EDC and have success similar to the city's programs.

The second goal is to inform.

"There are a lot of things nowadays that can be done to promote economic development by the average person sitting at a computer," Brake said. "We live in a networked world, and you never know when somebody may have an interest in investing in Owensboro or marketing Owensboro."

The citizens academy is an outgrowth of the EDC's strategic plan process that involved meetings with target groups and the public, board chairman Rod Kuegel said.

It is expected to be an annual program.

The EDC is a public-private partnership with an annual budget of about $600,000. About half of its budget is from public dollars. In recent years, the private sector has contributed about $150,000 to $200,000.

Joy Campbell, 691-7299, jcampbell@messenger-inquirer.com

To Attend

To sign up for the new Economic Development Corp. Citizens Academy, visit www.edc.owensboro.com or call 926-4339.

Owensboro taking steps toward bluegrass center

2010-10-21T15:09:00.000-05:00

By Keith Lawrence, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Thursday, October 21, 2010 12:12 AM CDT

A feasibility study with a breakdown of the costs of turning the state office building into the proposed International Bluegrass Music Center won't be ready until March.

But Mayor Ron Payne still wants the board of trustees of the International Bluegrass Music Museum at its Nov. 6 meeting to approve in theory relocating the museum to the state office building, three blocks west of the current museum.

"All we can do now is just give them our blessing to keep going forward on it," Terry Woodward, vice chairman of the museum board, said recently. "We can't make a commitment until we have better numbers on what it's going to cost."

He added: "At this point, all we can say is we're intrigued with the idea. Certainly, we hope to be part of it. We encourage them to move forward with planning."

"We haven't found anything that would be particularly expensive," said Barry Alberts, managing partner of CityVisions Associates, the Louisville company working on the plans for the bluegrass center.

"It looks like costs will be reasonable," he said.

Payne said once he gets the blessing of the museum board, he wants to appoint a national -- or possibly international -- panel to plan the bluegrass center.

"I'm asking them (the museum board) to come up with names of people to serve on a committee to be in charge of planning the center," he said. "I'd like seven from Owensboro and five nationally."

That panel would work with Alberts, Payne said.

"Hopefully, they could start by the first of the year," he said. "I don't know how long it will take."

The panel would also work on fundraising and planning a marketing campaign for the project. "This could be the biggest thing we do downtown," Payne said.

A preliminary drawing by CityVisions shows the parking lot of the state office building covered in grass with seating space available for about 1,000 people.

"There's no place in Owensboro to listen to bluegrass on a regular basis," Alberts said. "We want to change that."

Indoor/outdoor stage

An indoor/outdoor stage is on the northeast corner -- Frederica Street side -- of the building.

Inside would be room for 250 to 400 people at a concert.

In good weather, a door on the back of the stage could be opened and the stage turned for an outdoor concert, Alberts said.

"This will be a bluegrass cultural center," he said. "It's more than a museum. We're looking at things that would complement bluegrass -- a restaurant, clothing store, an instrument store, things that celebrate the bluegrass culture. We want to highlight bluegrass as a brand."

Woodward said he's a little concerned that the parking lot isn't large enough for concerts.

"I'm not opposed to the design," he said, "but if you don't plan big enough, you can have problems later."

On the northwest corner of the building, the drawing shows a restaurant with outdoor seating.

The city wants a barbecue restaurant included in the bluegrass center -- combining bluegrass and barbecue in one location.

"We've had informal discussions about a restaurant," said Fred Reeves, the city's downtown development director. "We would like to have a barbecue restaurant downtown. It's dedicated space that the city would lease. The museum doesn't have the staff or the expertise to handle leases."

He said the architects went on the roof of the building "and they say we can do something as exotic as a rooftop restaurant if there's interest in it."

Dan Hays, executive director of the Nashville-based International Bluegrass Music Association, lived in Owensboro for 12 years when the IBMA was headquartered here.

He likes the idea of putting a barbecue restaurant in the center.

"We're food people in general," he said of bluegrass fans. "But bluegrass and barbecue share a cultural connection of being natural and real. This bluegrass fan definitely loves barbecue."

"A lot of people come here for bluegrass and barbecue, and having them in the same place would be good," said Gabrielle Gray, the museum's executive director.

Woodward said a barbecue restaurant "would draw people to the center every day and every night. We don't have barbecue downtown now."

That side of the building would be just across the street from the proposed Hampton Inn & Suites and one block from the planned convention center.

Naming rights possible

"I think naming opportunities (for different parts of the center) are possible," Woodward said. "It will be unique and one of a kind. We've never gone to Cracker Barrel, Martha White Flour, Martin Guitars with a presentation.

"They want large numbers of people and with 25,000 people a year now at the museum, we're not large enough," he said. "But the bluegrass center could attract a couple hundred thousand people a year."

"Naming rights are not only possible, but highly likely," Gray said.

"It's a difficult economy," Hays said. "But everyone is looking for creative ways to market and to brand what they are doing. We're increasingly seeing those connections (between corporate America and bluegrass) grow."

Corporations, he said, want to know what they'll gain by putting their name on part of the center.

Payne, Woodward and Reeves took a drawing of the proposed center to the IBMA convention in Nashville last month.

Reeves said he later ran into a bluegrass musician in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport.

"He was coming from the IBMA convention." Reeves said. "He said there were broad smiles after we made our presentation."

"There was a tremendous amount of discussion at IBMA," said Gray, who had information about the bluegrass center at the museum's booth at the convention after Payne's group left.

"We generated more traffic at our booth with those signs than any other booth," she said. "There's been nothing but positive energy."

"People were excited that the development was happening and had a bluegrass focus," Hays said. "The vision is exciting. The ideas are exciting and made an impression. There is a significant amount of buzz in the industry."

Giant instrument on corner

The drawing of the center shows a giant musical instrument -- probably at least 30 feet high -- on the corner of Second and Frederica streets against the building.

It would be a sign, similar to the 120-foot, 68,000-pound bat outside the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory in Louisville, Alberts said.

The instrument, which would be visible for blocks, would help attract people to the center, he said.

The bluegrass museum has an Internet radio station.

Alberts wants to see it on the ground floor of the state office building with a window so people passing on the street can stop to look in at what's happening.

The drawing shows a steel structure on the Veterans Boulevard side of the block with stalls to be used by the farmers market.

Payne said the stalls could also be used for other things, such as an art festival.

The roof could have balcony seating for concerts, Alberts aid.

"It's a plain-looking building," he said of the state office building. "But we can animate it. Physically, we could redo the building in 12 to 18 months."

That would put its opening at about the same time as the hotel and convention center.

"This could put Owensboro on the international map," Payne said. "Over the next three to four years, we'll really transform downtown. The excitement is building."

"People are saying I can't wait to help," Gray said. "We'll have a lot of volunteers coming in to help. The bluegrass community is very grateful."

"People say it's time we acknowledge how important bluegrass music is," Reeves said.

"The feasibility study will look at possible grants and fundraising opportunities," he said. "We'll have a nice presentation piece to take to Frankfort and Washington when we approach them for money."

Bill Monroe, "the father of bluegrass music," was born and is buried in Rosine, about 40 miles southeast of Owensboro.

The city's drive to capitalize on bluegrass began 25 years ago when what was then the Owensboro-Daviess County Tourist Commission launched a drive to create a bluegrass festival, a professional bluegrass association, a convention, an awards show and a museum.

The tourist commission was a founding member of the IBMA that fall and persuaded the organization to move its headquarters to Owensboro the following year. It moved back to Nashville in 2002.

The museum opened on a part-time basis in the RiverPark Center complex in 1992. But it was 2002 before it opened full-time.

Survey shows more than half of Kentucky manufacturers plan to hire in 2011

2010-10-20T15:18:00.002-05:00

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Oct. 20, 2010) — Gov. Beshear today announced that 57 percent of Kentucky manufacturers surveyed for the recently conducted 2010 Annual Manufacturing Wage and Benefits Survey said they are planning to hire between one and 19 employees in 2011, a 16 percent jump from last year’s results. The annual report, sponsored by the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet’s Department of Workforce Investment and the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers (KAM), was released today.

“The results of this survey are good news for Kentucky businesses and Kentucky families,” said Gov. Beshear. “Growth in the manufacturing industry will be critical to Kentucky recovering from the global economic crisis, and this survey shows that manufacturers find Kentucky a positive place to do business. In addition, businesses across Kentucky are able to maintain or add new jobs by taking advantage of the new incentives the state offers under my administration.”

The survey showed that, for the first time, the average annual wage of manufacturing employees in Kentucky broke the $50,000 mark. Manufacturing employees made an average of $51,771 in 2010, up from $48,277 in the 2008-2009 survey, for an increase of 7.2 percent. Compared to 2010, the average annual manufacturing wage has jumped from $34,736 in 2000, and it has increased each year since 2000. Sixty-three percent of the 177 manufacturing job categories recorded a higher average wage in the 2010 survey.

“The fact that wages went up 7.2 percent from the last survey was a positive surprise,” said Shawn Herbig, president of IQS Research. “It shows that employers are working to keep the staff they have by compensating them appropriately.”

IQS Research of Louisville collaborated with KAM on the development of the wage and benefits survey for Kentucky’s manufacturing community. The Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce, South Central Kentucky Regional Economic Development Partnership and the Central Kentucky Career Center also supported the survey this year.

“The Kentucky Association of Manufacturers (KAM) clearly understands the importance of helping the Commonwealth’s manufacturing community control costs, especially when making hiring and promotion decisions,” stated Greg Higdon, KAM president & CEO. “KAM's 99th annual Wage & Benefits Survey Report is a valuable tool manufacturers can use in their efforts to compensate employees in a fair and competitive manner.”

“This study represents more than 31,000 salary and hourly manufacturing employees and 202 companies in Kentucky. It gives us a valuable snapshot of what is happening and helps us measure the vitality of the sector in Kentucky. It shows that manufacturing is moving forward cautiously from the recession and making plans to hire in the next year, which is a positive,” said Beth Brinly, commissioner of the Department of Workforce Investment.

In addition to the statewide report, the Department of Workforce Investment worked with KAM to produce a set of regional reports. The information gives manufacturers timely and accurate wage and benefits information such as paid vacation and sick time, health insurance and overtime pay when making hiring and promotion decisions.

To conduct the survey, IQS Research e-mailed invitations to Kentucky manufacturers. Information was collected and compiled during July and August 2010. The number of companies participating in the report rose from 147 in the last survey to 202 this year. Of the employers who participated, 55 percent said that they had fewer than 100 employees. All of the information provided in the report is in aggregate form, so as to not identify individual companies.

In addition to wage and benefits information, for the first time in the survey’s 99-year history questions were included about green jobs and what Kentucky manufacturers are doing or planning to do to make companies more environmentally friendly.

The number of companies that are currently producing green products is 43 percent, while 40 percent are in the process of developing new green products. In addition, 69 percent of employers are educating and training their workforce on ways to use energy more efficiently, reduce pollution, conserve natural resources and be more cost effective.

“The survey found some very interesting trends happening in green jobs across the state. This study indicates that Kentucky manufacturers are recognizing the importance of green technology and manufacturing for future growth and that’s exciting,” said Brinly.

Questions about benefits showed that 80 percent of the companies provide nine or more paid holidays per year. Health insurance was offered by about 97 percent of employers surveyed.

Companies were also asked about hiring temporary workers. About 68 percent of the employers currently use temporary staff as compared to 65 percent in the last report. In the 2010 survey, about 41 percent said they plan to hire temporary workers in the future as compared to 3.4 percent of employers surveyed in the last report.

The manufacturing sector employs more than 212,000 people in Kentucky as of August 2010, according to the Department of Workforce Investment.

Visit www.KAManufacturers.com or call 502-352-2485 for information on how to purchase a copy of the 2010 KAM Wage and Benefits Survey report.

EDC encourages Public Involvement with Economic Development Citizen Academy

2010-10-20T14:00:00.001-05:00

In an effort to continue to encourage public involvement and understanding of economic development, the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corporation will launch an Economic Development Citizen’s Academy this winter.

The program is modeled on the successful Citizen Academy programs used by the City of Owensboro and the Owensboro Police Department. The Economic Development Citizen Academy will consist of three two-hour sessions scheduled from January to March 2011.

“The board and staff of the EDC are very committed to public participation in the economic development,” said EDC Board Chair Rod Kuegel. “This Citizen Academy is a direct outgrowth of the public process we used in creating our most recent strategic plan. The EDC currently has a greater level of public input and participation than any other time in the history of the organization.”

The sessions will offer comprehensive insight into the strategies and ideas of modern economic development. Participants will get a behind the scenes view of the economic development process, dialogue with leaders from local businesses about the regional economy and visit amenities such as the Centre for Business and Research.

“Economic development has evolved and changed significantly over the past decade,” said EDC President Nick Brake. “In a more global, yet increasingly networked world, many of these changes mean that the average citizen sitting at the computer screen can be involved in our efforts to promote the region. We are hoping to encourage more citizens to learn about economic development so that we can create ambassadors that can tell our story in a whole new way."

The EDC anticipates offering the academy program annually. For more information or to sign up for the Economic Development Citizen’s Academy visit edc.owensboro.com or call 926-4339.

Hafer Associates moving downtown

2010-10-19T09:53:00.002-05:00

By Joy Campbell, Messenger-Inquirer
Published: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 12:11 AM CDT

Hafer Associates architectural firm is moving into part of the first floor of the Newberry-Wile Building downtown at 101 E. Second St.

The firm, which also has offices in Evansville, entered the local business community about three years ago when it bought the Collignon & Nunley firm from George Collignon.

The company now has eight people in its Owensboro offices, including Dennis Wilson of Owensboro, the most recent hire.

Hafer was looking for the right location, and the space at Second and Allen streets owned by Phil and Laura Clark fit the bill.

"This is a nice, historic building right in the heart of downtown," said David Wills, Hafer's managing principal partner. "We also like that it's next to the parking garage, and we'll rent space there."

The Hafer firm does a lot of historical preservation work, so that also made the location a good fit, he said.

The architects also are very involved in designing sustainable buildings -- those that are energy-efficient, Wills said.

The Clarks live on the third floor of the Newberry-Wile Building, which covers 101-105 E. Second St., and several other tenants occupy offices within the 16,000-square-foot space.

Hafer will occupy about 4,000 square feet of the northwest portion of the building's first floor.

The Counseling Center also is on the first floor, and the second- floor occupants include Financial Freedom Partners, David York & Associates and attorney Charles Lamar.

Hafer has continued to rent space from Collignon at 1535 Frederica St.

The business is working with local contractors to get pricing on the renovations for the new location.

"It's very exciting for us," Wills said. "It will probably be ready sometime after the first of the year.

Records show that Sol Wile, a German immigrant, built the building at 101 E. Second in 1881. He eventually expanded the store, Sol Wile & Sons, adding the section at 105 E. Second.

But in 1927, Owensboro's largest clothing store closed. Newberry's department store was located there in later years.

The building has had several owners over time, including the county -- but it also was empty for quite a few years and fell into major disrepair.

Rescued and renovated in the 1990s, the structure's transformation then signaled hope for a downtown renaissance, but it was abandoned again before finally gaining its current owners in 2005.

Louisville, Owensboro will cooperate to grow life-science companies

2010-10-13T16:34:00.002-05:00

Nucleus, the life-sciences initiative of the University of Louisville Foundation, and Owensboro economic development officials will cooperate to form and grow high-tech and life science companies.

Under an arrangement announced Wednesday, the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp. will introduce companies interested in aging and long-term care technologies to Nucleus for help analyzing business opportunities. Louisville is home to several major long-term care companies, and Nucleus is establishing the International Center for Long Term Care Innovation in Louisville.

Nucleus will introduce Louisville companies with technologies in the areas of plant-made drugs and food sciences to the Owensboro agency for similar business-growth services.

Paseo Tower construction to start soon

2010-10-12T10:54:00.002-05:00

12 Oct 2010 — Messenger-Inquirer
By Keith Lawrence, Messenger-Inquirer

Construction on the Paseo Tower in Riverfront Crossing ' the block north of the Daviess County Courthouse ' should begin this month and be completed by summer.

The tower ' sometimes referred to as a clock tower ' is the 'vertical signature piece' of that section of downtown redevelopment, Downtown Development Director Fred Reeves said Monday.

Tony Cecil, the city's operations manager, said the tower will be in the center of the block on the paseo ' a passageway that forms a cross between Second Street, Veterans Boulevard, Frederica Street and St. Ann Street.
'It will be 25 feet tall, 14 feet long and 14 feet wide,' he said. 'It won't be taller than the two-story buildings, but you'll still be able to see it from all four streets.'

The top, Cecil said, 'will be ornate to draw people into the block.'
The tower will have brick veneer walls with limestone molding and cornices.
A clock ' similar to the clocks that used to be in railroad depots, Cecil said ' will be placed about halfway up the tower.

People won't be able to climb the tower, but the base can be used for a variety of functions, Cecil and Reeves said.

'There's an open area at the bottom that's big enough for a small ensemble to play or for stump speaking,' Reeves said.

Hall Contracting of Louisville won the contract in July to rebuild Smothers Park and Veterans Boulevard and to build Riverfront Crossing with a bid of $19.4 million for the entire package.

That was nearly $4 million less than the nearest competitor.
Cecil said the bid didn't break out the cost of the Paseo Tower itself.
Several buildings in the Riverfront Crossing block, including the old American Bounty restaurant, were torn down to open up the area.
A new two-story restaurant is planned to replace American Bounty, and another new building might face Veterans Boulevard.

City officials say the second building could be a four-story structure next to the Sullivan, Mountjoy, Stainback & Miller law office, with ground-floor retail and condos or apartments above.

The original concept for the block in November 2008 called it 'Market Square Plaza.'

Plans called for an open-air plaza, which would include covered areas along its edges that could be home to a regular farmers market as well as providing space for retail sales kiosks and a open area for people to gather.

But after the city bought the 17-acre Executive Inn Rivermont property, the plans changed to relocate the farmer's market there.

City, Gateway Planning win international award

2010-10-12T10:52:00.002-05:00

12 Oct 2010 — Messenger-Inquirer
By the Messenger-Inquirer

Owensboro and Gateway Planning Group of Fort Worth, Texas, have won a Downtown Achievement merit award from the International Downtown Association for their work on Owensboro's placemaking initiative and riverfront development projects.

The award was presented at the 56th annual conference of the International Downtown Association last week in Fort Worth.

The awards 'celebrate and communicate the most successful and innovative efforts in worldwide downtown development,' according to the announcement.
They 'recognize the best practices that downtown revitalization, management and leadership have to offer,' it said.

Scott Polikov with Gateway Planning Group and Fred Reeves, executive director for Owensboro's downtown development, attended the conference and addressed a panel about 'Revitalizing Downtowns Through Form-Based Codes and Public/Private Financing.'

'To be recognized by an international organization and among our peers for our efforts to revitalize our riverfront and downtown is a great honor and further affirmation that Owensboro is on the right track to progress,' Mayor Ron Payne said in a news release.

According to its website, the 56-year-old International Downtown Association has more than 650 member organizations in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa.

Honored for innovation - Phill’s Custom Cabinets earns highest industry honor for ‘Cabinotch’ cabinet manufacturing system

2010-10-08T14:38:00.000-05:00

By Benjamin Hoak
Excerpt from Greater Owensboro Business publication - Fourth Quarter 2010

A 67-year old cabinetmaker from Pennsylvania who has been in business since 1971 called Phillip Crabtree of Phill’s Custom Cabinets in Owensboro a few weeks ago. “What you’ve done has completely revolutionized my cabinet shop,” he said. “We’ve gone from (probable) bankruptcy next year to a 25 or 30 percent margin.” Cabinotch, a patent-pending computerized cabinet-building system developed by Crabtree and his father, Phill Crabtree, over the last five years, is the kind of product that’s going to produce many more such phone calls. In August, the International Woodworking Fair (IWF) awarded Cabinotch its 2010 Challengers Award – one of the industry’s highest honors. “It’s like an Olympic swimmer winning the gold,” Crabtree said. “These aren’t given to small guys. Companies spend millions (trying to win).” Cabinotch produces pre-cut custom cabinets at high speed and low prices without sacrificing quality. Crabtree credits his father, an expert millwright who started the company 36 years ago, with the success as well. “He’s just as much part of it as me,” he said. “Dad and I worked all of it together.” The company began the IWF Challengers award application process in April and was named one of 22 finalists in June. Presented every two years, the award challenges companies to use technology to move the woodworking industry forward. After a 15-minute final presentation at the IWF in August – the fair included more than 950 exhibiting companies and judges from all over the world – Phill’s Custom Cabinets was named one of seven winners, marking the first time that a first-time exhibitor has won the award. Six of the eight judges told Crabtree that Cabinotch was the most innovative product they had ever seen. As a result of the award and its publicity – publications around the world will be writing about the Challenger awards – Crabtree is anticipating an increase in business. The company is already getting calls and they’ve invested in more equipment to accommodate the demand. He expects newly-created jobs to soon follow.

How Cabinotch works:

Custom cabinet-makers enter their cabinet height, width and depth specifications to the thousandth of an inch at Cabinotch’s website, www.cabinotch.com. The system’s software automatically programs equipment in the Crabtree’s shop to cut the cabinet elements to those exact specifications. The pieces are then delivered fl at-stacked to the client’s shop, where the ingenious interlocking design lets the cabinetmakers form the cabinet boxes in a matter of minutes. Customers building custom pieces can then add their own doors, finish and trim. The process is faster and less expensive than if cabinet makers built their own cabinet boxes by hand. It’s also more efficient – instead of cutting sheet after sheet of plywood by hand to get exact dimensions, Cabinotch produces minimal waste. Because of its precise measurements and machinery that can cut to 1/20 of the thickness of a human hair, scrap pieces from 10 Cabinotch
kitchens would only fill a 5-gallon bucket, Crabtree said. The company’s YouTube Channel (www.youtube.com/cabinotch) shows several videos of Crabtree demonstrating how Cabinotch cabinets work. In one time-lapse video, Crabtree and an employee assemble and install 13 cabinets – an entire kitchen’s worth – in just 49 minutes. Crabtree said his ability to conceive and produce the process goes back to high school. “I learned more in three years with Mr. Green at Apollo High School in tech lab…than in all four years of college,” he said. “It’s just priceless to me to have (that) training.” Crabtree dreamed up the basic Cabinotch premise while laying laminate flooring at night to pay for his college education at
the University of Kentucky. “If laminate flooring could be clicked together, I thought machinery could do it for cabinets,” he said. After he earned his degree in management and marketing, he came back to join his father’s company on Kentucky 81 in Owensboro. “We’ve got 23 of the best employees in the country,” he said. “It’s a rock-solid company built on strong Christian principles. We don’t just have employees. We have family.” Phill Crabtree started his company in his garage in 1975. Since then, the company has relocated eight times and now serves an area from Indianapolis to Nashville, with shipping available to any location across the country. The company produces custom cabinets, bookcases, desks and built-ins. The word “custom” conjures up images of high prices, but Phillip Crabtree said their process allows them to build pieces so quickly that they can beat a quote on a custom kitchen from Lowes or Home Depot by 10 percent. He is still amazed they actually won the award, even though he was confident in their idea. “For a little guy from Owensboro to come in and win is incredible – the global impact that we could have from Owensboro.”

Existing businesses want to keep development on track

2010-10-08T14:31:00.000-05:00

By Joy Campbell
Exerpt from Greater Owensboro Business Publication - Fourth Quarter 2010

New eateries, a libation emporium, a photo studio, gift shops — the list of businesses opening in downtown Owensboro is continuing to grow. And the explosion of new retail and restaurant establishments is happening while the city is still on the cusp of its $79.4 million renovation. The new business owners are reporting fast starts to their investments, and they are optimistic about the future as downtown starts to take its new shape. “It has been everything I expected it to be — fantastic,” said Samantha Ellison, co-owner of Bee Bop’s, a ‘50s-themed diner at 122 West Second St. The diner opened May 6 — just as the International Bar-B-Q Festival was bringing thousands of visitors downtown. Ellison said she chose Owensboro because it reminded her of a happy childhood experience. She lived in a town not so different from Owensboro, except it had cobblestone streets downtown. “My mother took me to Woolworth’s, and we got a Limeade at the counter,” she said. Bee Bop’s has a 32-foot counter with stools and service behind the counter. Ellison is pleased with the customer feedback she’s getting. “I think we have a great concept going here,” she said. “We’ve tweaked the menu to fit the downtown crowd.” Most recently, she added soups to accommodate her customers. “I wish I had more seats — that’s a good thing,” Ellison said. As she fast-forwards four to five years, she sees 10 Bee Bop’s up and running. “The next one will definitely be in Bowling Green,” Ellison said. “Then maybe Evansville.” She hasn’t ruled out a second location on Kentucky 54, but she wants to see what happens when the new hospital opens in east Daviess County. Bee Bop’s has 17 employees. Carol Reader, owner of “C-ing” Polkadots, one of downtown’s newest shops, has a similar success story. She opened May 10, the Monday following the barbecue festival. “I can’t believe the number of people who come back into the store and bring their out-of-town guests to show it off,” Reader said. “The last two weeks have been the best yet.” Reader is a lifelong Owensboro resident and has great memories of shopping at stores, including McAtee’s and Ferrell’s, when downtown was vibrant. “Seeing downtown revitalized is so important,” she said. “I’m praying and hoping that it will be developed.” Carol and Scott Reader own several downtown buildings. “I wanted my own shop, and I felt the Lord wanted me to do this,” she said. The building has been totally renovated. She has made good use of the space with gift items, a children’s boutique and gallery, original art, home decor, custom gift baskets and custom framing, goodie baskets, sculptures — a variety — elegantly displayed on two floors. “We offer free gift wrapping and free local delivery, and that has been well-received,” she said. “We’re very service-oriented.” The shop also sells organic coffees and lattes and customers can sample the drinks and goodies. Reader sees a bright future for downtown and “C-ing” Polkadots. “I think when the downtown renovation is done, it will get better,” she said. “The first thing we will do when we can is expand on the back.” When the business starts to profit, she expects to use the funds to finance mission work. Other new businesses that have opened downtown recently are Gambrinus Libation Emporium at 116 West Second St.; Second Street Pub, 119 East Second St. And other launches are expected. Al Gendek, co-owner of Diamond Delights Cafe & Bakery, is gearing up to open that shop at 222 Allen St. He and his wife Marva are moving their well-established business from downtown Henderson. The decision to relocate the 12-year-old company to Owensboro’s downtown district speaks of the couple’s high expectations for the area. The Gendeks did their homework — researching how existing downtown businesses are faring and scouting an open building. Al Gendek told the Messenger-Inquirer last month that he had his eye on the 110-year-old structure for nearly a year before signing a lease with owner Leo Portaluppi. Portaluppi, who has two City Subs & Salads shops in Owensboro, was eyeing a third location when he bought the Allen Street building at auction in June. The Gendeks see the investments the city and county have made in developing its core as a strong signal for the future. They also have ties to Owensboro, having lived in the city from 1974 until the mid-1980s. Katherine Taylor, an Owensboro native, is renovating the space at 412 East Second St. for Studio Slant, an art gallery and hand-made gifts boutique. The gallery will open in October with a show of work by eastern Kentucky artist John Haywood. Haywood’s paintings spotlight the stereotypes of Appalachia. “Owensboro doesn’t currently have a gallery with rotating shows by well-known artists where every piece is for sale,” said Taylor. Other artists slated to offer their work for sale at Studio Slant include Owensboro native and glass artist Brook Forrest White and Arturo Alonzo Sandoval, a fiber artist who is also a tenured full professor of fine art at the University of Kentucky. The gallery’s hand-made gift items will include a custom blended spa line by Red Leaf and jewelry by local designer Paula Canant. Taylor knew downtown was the right place to open her gallery. “I only looked for space in the downtown area because I love the growth that is going on right now. Downtown is ‘happening’ and I want to be part of it,” she said.

Keep the momentum going

Owensboro’s planned redevelopment includes a new events center and hotel and riverfront improvements. The city has received $37.6 million in federal funds to build a river wall and has contributed about $4 million in local funds to that project. The redevelopment also will bring changes in traffic patterns, with Second and Fourth streets turning into two-way. Restaurateur George Skiadas makes no secret that he’s excited about the potential for downtown Owensboro. “The future is limited only by our imagination,” said Skiadas, who owns the Famous Bistro, 102 West Second St. “The atmosphere is so positive downtown now.” Skiadas just returned from a trip to St. Louis where he talked to a restaurant manager in the west-central section of the city. “The things we’re creating here and the issues we have here — they went through — and their results were phenomenal,” Skiadas said. Some of the common issues are filling empty stores, making downtown pedestrian-friendly, improving the riverfront and creating a service-friendly atmosphere. “They’ve been doing this for 20 years with success,” Skiadas said. “That was a nice affirmation of our efforts here.” Skiadas said he also picked up a magazine at the hotel where he stayed in St. Louis that had a story detailing the commitments officials had to make to avoid the city’s decline. “That is a much larger scale, but the issues were similar,” he said. “We’re already seeing some results here with new businesses opening that are creating that atmosphere we need.” Skiadas wants to see even more eateries open. “The more, the merrier,” he said. “In St. Louis, it was one restaurant after another, yet it took us a half-hour to find a table. That’s a good situation to have.” Skiadas and Ellison touted the efforts of We Are Downtown, a downtown business group. “The downtown businesses have really supported us,” Ellison said. “We go to the We Are Downtown meetings, and they are very positive.” Skiadas said the business group has advanced the interests of downtown. Rosemary and Larry Conder have been systematically adding to their investment in downtown Owensboro. They now own six properties — all historic buildings. The couple started their own downtown development in 2007 when they bought The Gallery at 107 East Second St. and renamed it The Crowne at 107. Then they bought the building at 109 East Second Street that is now The Creme Coffee House. In 2009, they purchased the Smith-Werner Building which now houses Gambrinus and Bee Bop’s and can handle another business. They also have created four apartments on the second floor. They bought the property at 221 St. Ann last year. Their most recent investment is two buildings at 101 and 103 West Third St. The purchase prices and renovations at three of the sites has tipped their total investment past $2 million. This summer when the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce named the Conders 2010 Entrepreneurs of the Year, both Conders said the city’s and county’s development plan spurred them to move forward with their downtown plans. And they’re not finished yet. Larry Conder said last month the couple is considering building a replica of the Bank of Commerce on the southeast corner of Second and St. Ann streets. Daviess Fiscal Court owns the site — a parking lot next to Bee Bop’s. “Our expectations can be influenced by what happens in Owensboro in the next six months,” Larry Conder said in reference to the November election and subsequent determination of the makeup of the Owensboro City Commission and Daviess Fiscal Court. Downtown development efforts are “rolling downhill pretty fast,” he said.
But for all of the work that has been done, there is still a significant amount of infra-structure left to build and traffic changes left to implement, Conder said. And people, by nature, are impatient. They have seen the buildings come down, but none go up. “Changes in government officials and seeing the buildings go up are the biggest things to look for,” he said. “We need to see those things play out.” Conder would like to see both public and private investment in the works — especially more from the private sector. “I would like to see some outside investors coming in; that’s a telling sign,” he said.