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11 people, places and things to watch in 2011

Change was the theme for 2010. Only with time can we say this year will be as compelling.

Contributed/photo illustration The Pendleton Art Center will open in Middletown sometime in early 2011. Photo illustration

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Work continues on the SunCoke plant in Middletown. AK Steel Corp. is waiting with bated breath for the opening this fall of SunCoke's $360 million coke-producing plant.

Staff photo by Gary Stelzer Work continues on the SunCoke plant in Middletown. AK Steel Corp. is waiting with bated breath for the opening this fall of SunCoke's $360 million coke-producing plant.

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Sue Faulkner, right, and Dona Kirkpatrick check and verify chemotherapy drugs for patients at the Atrium Medical Center Compton Cancer Center. Carol Turner, Atrium Medical Center's new president and chief executive, says her focus is continual improvement of quality and service.

Staff photo by Greg Lynch Sue Faulkner, right, and Dona Kirkpatrick check and verify chemotherapy drugs for patients at the Atrium Medical Center Compton Cancer Center. Carol Turner, Atrium Medical Center's new president and chief executive, says her focus is continual improvement of quality and service.

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Staff photo by Gary Stelzer/MBR Ron Carter, church administrator for Solid Rock Church, displays the model of the new statue "Come Unto Me." After a lightning strike destroyed the original, this statue is expected to be completed by the end of 2011.

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Staff Report 9:04 PM Friday, December 31, 2010

1. The jobs and the economy

The economy is growing, just at a very slow pace. So will the economy grow fast enough to offer some relief in 2011? Telltale signs will be monthly unemployment and foreclosures rates, as well as news of business openings and closings.

Stephen Lippmann, Miami University assistant professor of sociology, said there’s a slow recovery going on. But there’s been an increase in people working involuntarily parttime — a 25 percent increase in the past year, according to the U.S. Census, he said.

With unemployment still in double-digits for Middletown, every new job counts. Several development projects started last year will yield new jobs by the end 2011.

The latest job count:

• Interstate Warehousing chooses Hamilton for a $14 million expansion: 25 jobs.

• Greenwood Fuels LLC received Job Creation Tax Credit to locate in Hamilton: 29 jobs.

• Advanced Design Solutions Inc. received Job Creation Tax Credit to consider Middletown location: 50 jobs.

•SunCoke Energy to take applications this month for hourly workers at its Middletown plant: about 80 jobs.

• FedEx to close end of this month in West Chester Twp.: more than 200 jobs lost.

• Pella Corp. to close first half of next year in Fairfield: nearly 200 jobs lost.

As can be seen, the amount of jobs going out at once outweigh the number of jobs coming in with each announcement.

2. Cincinnati State Technical and Community College

Middletown officials recently spent $275,000 to acquire the former CG&E, First National Bank, Masonic Temple and Bank One buildings downtown on Main Street. The buildings were bought so Cincinnati State Technical and Community College can open a new branch campus here. However, questions have been raised as to whether the school will even use all the buildings, and what the city will do with them if they don’t. Meanwhile, city officials are still in negotiations to acquire the Manchester Inn and SonShine Products building for the college’s culinary arts and hospitality programs. That deal is expected to close in early January.

If successful, the project could bring new jobs plus hundreds of students flowing through Middletown’s downtown streets, bringing side businesses and additional economic development in its wake. But it’s far from definite.

The college and city remain in financial negotiations, and school officials have made it clear they cannot take on large amounts of debt to make the project happen. Both parties are optimistic a deal will be reached in 2011.

Economic Development Director Mike Robinette said it’s easy to be critical of the city taking so many risks, but that Middletown has more to gain with a trusted partner like Cincinnati State than “doing nothing.”

3. The Pendleton Art Center

After months of anticipation and delays, the Pendleton Art Center will open in Middletown sometime in early 2011. Renovation of a former Armco Steel building is under way at 7 N. Broad St., and artists are being recruited. In addition, the building will be adorned with 200 car hoods in what is meant to be an artistic nod to the city’s steel heritage. Pendleton founder Jim Verdin says the hoods are meant to attract attention, but will the attention be positive? The Pendletons have been successful in every other city that has one, including Cincinnati, Rising Sun, Ind., and Ashland, Ky. Will the streak continue and help boost Middletown’s downtown?

4. New Atrium president, CEO

Carol Turner, Atrium Medical Center’s new president and chief executive, says her focus is continual improvement of quality and service.

At the heart of what’s to come is a more patient-centered focus.

“Every year we have to continue to do better with the quality we’re providing, with the service we’re providing,” said Turner in an interview with the Journal in December.

She succeeds Doug McNeill, who spearheaded the hospital as it transformed from Middletown Regional Hospital to the state-of-the-art Atrium Medical Center.

5. Jesus statue to be rebuilt

After the destruction of the iconic giant Jesus statue along Interstate 75 in Monroe following a June lightning strike, Solid Rock Church co-pastors Lawrence and Darelene Bishop vowed to rebuild.

The new statue, a full-standing figure of Jesus Christ with an outstretched pose called “Come Unto Me,” is to be designed and sculpted by Cincinnati artists Steve Brauch of Glasshand LLC and Tom Tsuchiya.

The statue will stand on 11 feet of boulders and rocks with water flowing out of the rock into the reflecting pool in front of the statue. The structure will be constructed of a steel substructure with a lightning suppression system installed. The work is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2011.

6. Foreclosure glut

Continue to expect high rates of foreclosures in the new year.

Butler County was propelled to the fourth-highest number of foreclosures in the state for November, when there was a month-to-month spike of 30 percent to foreclosure filings made against 422 properties, according to RealtyTrac, a California real estate firm.

However, the spike was artificial to a great extent, said Don Gardner, a homeownership and default intervention counselor for Neighborhood Housing Services in Hamilton.

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