From the 1/11/07 Marion Star:

 

Northwest update: Zoning change recommended for land near connector road

1,238 acres prime for industrial development, say officials

By JOHN JARVIS

The Marion Star

 

MARION - Does Marion's industrial future lie northwest of the city?  Local, state and federal officials seem to think so as the Ohio Department of Development directs millions of federal dollars to pay for an overpass needed to complete a road that would link Ohio 95 West and Marion-Williamsport Road.  Dubbed the Northwest Industrial Connector project, the road promises:

 

* to relieve downtown Marion of heavy truck traffic;

* to provide an easier shipping route for the county's largest employer, Whirlpool Corp.; and

* to create an industrial corridor where existing businesses can expand and new businesses can locate.

 

Last week, movement was made toward preparing 1,238 acres of land near the connector road route when the Marion County Regional Planning Commission voted to recommend that the land be rezoned I-3, Industrial District.

 

Full story at http://www.marionstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070111/NEWS01/701110310/1002/rss01

 

You invest in rail and good things happen for the economy.  Marion's intermodal yard is proof of that and when this new highway and railroad grade separation are done, the industrial park and the intermodal yard will have a smooth connection and we will see even greater economic development in an area that needs it.  All it takes is bringing the right people together to get the deal done.

From the 1/23/07 Marion Star:

 

Three vie for Marion ethanol plant

By JOHN JARVIS

The Marion Star

 

Marion County is the finish line for what appears to be a three-developer race to build an ethanol plant.  Broin Companies of Sioux Falls, S.D.; Herb Pfeifer of Canal Winchester; and Altra Inc. of Los Angeles are looking to construct a plant.  Whether the opening of one such facility means the others will not appear remains to be determined, but none has separated itself from the rest of the field, said Ken Lengieza, director for the Marion City/County Regional Planning Commission.

 

Broin Companies, whose Web site describes its operation as a pioneer in turnkey ethanol business development, is talking to land owners and local utilities about building a 60 million-gallon-per-year ethanol production plant on 284 acres northwest of the city of Marion.  The Marion Township Zoning Commission on Jan. 31 will consider a request to rezone for industrial use 1,238 acres of farmland, including the prospective site for Broin Companies' facility.  Lockrem said he hopes Broin Companies has the plant operating by fall 2008.

 

MORE: http://www.marionstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070123/NEWS01/701230314/1002/rss01

 

From the 3/30/07 Marion Star:

 

Altra applies for ethanol plant permit

By JOHN JARVIS

The Marion Star

 

MARION - A California company has filed for a permit it would need to build an ethanol plant in the Dual Rail Industrial Park on the city of Marion's north side.  Altra Inc. on Tuesday applied for an air pollution control permit-to-install for a 110-million-gallons-per-year ethanol production facility, said Dina Pierce, spokeswoman at the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

 

The company is looking at purchasing 83 acres for about $2 million from CAN DO!, the economic development arm for the city and county of Marion, to construct an ethanol plant, Dave Claborn, CAN DO! president, has said.  Of the amount paid for the land, CAN DO! would put $500,000 back into the project to link the CSX and Norfolk & Southern railroad tracks located in the industrial park, he said.

 

MORE: http://www.marionstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070330/NEWS01/703300343/1002/rss01

From the 3/27/07 Marion Star:

 

Funding coalition: Petition push is just first step

By KURT MOORE

The Marion Star

 

MOUNT GILEAD - St. John Lutheran Church Pastor Donald Pletcher has watched school funding issues closely for more than a decade.  His son, William Pletcher, was a Cardington-Lincoln High School student when the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding filed DeRolph v. State of Ohio in Perry County Common Pleas Court.  William's and his parents' names were included as plaintiffs as the case went to the Fifth District Court of Appeals and eventually the Ohio Supreme Court, which found Ohio's education funding system to be unconstitutional in 1997.

 

Pletcher was one of 15 people in attendance Monday at a Marion County Retired Teachers Association meeting.  Tom Ash, director of governmental relations for the Buckeye Association of School Administrators, spoke at the meeting about the Getting It Right for Ohio's Future coalition that is collecting signatures to place a constitutional education amendment on the November ballot.

 

MORE: http://www.marionstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070327/NEWS01/703270324/1002/rss01

 

From the 3/21/07 Marion Star:

 

 

Phoenix Group revives development plans

New TIFF option appealing to Sens

By JOHN JARVIS

The Marion Star

 

MARION - Pieces are falling into place as the Phoenix Group development on the former East Lawn Manor property takes on new life five months after the local firm stopped the project.  The Marion County Regional Planning Commission on Tuesday approved a proposed site plan and a proposed 1.7-acre land division requested by Walgreens for the northwest corner of Ohio 95 and University Drive in Marion Township.

 

http://www.marionstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070321/NEWS01/703210328/1002/rss01

 

From the 3/23/07 Marion Star:

 

 

RV BOE signs off on Phoenix TIF

Marion Star Staff Report

 

CALEDONIA - The resolution for the tax increment financing agreement submitted to the River Valley Local Schools Board of Education by the Marion County Board of Commissioners proposes a tax exemption of 75 to 100 percent non-binding on real property development for 30 years.  Phoenix Group is seeking the TIF, worth approximately $800,000, as it develops the former East Lawn Manor property that it purchased for $3.5 million in 2004.  Located along Ohio 95 East, west of Wal-Mart and Legacy Crossing, a 1.7-acre portion of the land is being considered as the site of a Walgreens drug store.

 

http://www.marionstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070323/NEWS01/703230328/1002/rss01

 

Officials push forward as connector project stalls

By JOHN JARVIS

The Marion Star

 

MARION - While Whirlpool Corp. waits, local government officials struggle with issues related to getting a road built that would help the county's largest employer and the city.  The price of the Northwest Industrial Connector project, which began about 2004, has increased by $2 million to $3 million from its earlier estimated cost of $12.6 million, County Engineer Brad Irons informed county and city leaders recently. 

 

A target completion date of April 2007 has moved to August 2009 as various obstacles have slowed the project, which would connect Ohio 95 West with Marion-Williamsport Road.  On Sept. 3, city and county officials learned that the Federal Highway Administration has added a mandate that the county extend an environmental study along Marion-Williamsport Road from Hillman-Ford Road to U.S. 23.  The county had completed the environmental study from Ohio 95 to where the connector would meet Marion-Williamsport Road.

 

Full story at http://www.marionstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080915/NEWS01/809150320

Memorial makeover

Long after schoolchildren worldwide donated pennies to help build his tomb, Ohio spends big dollars to maintain Warren G. Harding's eternal resting place

Saturday,  August 8, 2009 - 2:59 AM

By Dana Wilson, The Columbus Dispatch

 

MARION, Ohio -- After President Warren G. Harding's death in 1923, his hometown supporters backed a national fundraising campaign to commemorate him.  The Harding Memorial Association raised enough -- $977,821 -- to build an elaborate tomb for the Marion native. 

 

"There was a lot of motivation to fund this memorial, but then over the years, memories fade and it's not quite the same anymore," said Fred Smith, an architect with the Ohio Historical Society. 

 

This summer, Smith is overseeing a restoration of Harding's tomb, which holds the remains of the president and his wife, Florence.  The work is being paid for with $550,000 from the state's capital-improvements budget.  The money is for the tomb's repairs and cleaning, not for operating the nearby Harding Home and Museum.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/08/08/harding.ART_ART_08-08-09_B1_SMEN982.html?sid=101

Phase 2 of Marion Northwest Connector project to be done in June

Aug 5, 2011  | 

Written by

John Jarvis

The Marion Star

 

MARION -- Work on the second phase of the Northwest Industrial Connector continues, Marion County Engineer Brad Irons said.

 

The second and last phase will link Ohio 309 to Marion-Williamsport Road West, completing a connection of Ohio 95 to U.S. 23 via Marion-Williamsport Road West.

 

Irons updated Marion County commissioners at their regular meeting Tuesday, answering a question from Commissioner Andy Appelfeller about what appeared to be holes dug for what looked like small ponds.

 

"Because the rock is only four or five feet down, they literally have to dig down to the rock and put the dirt right back down and compact it because it doesn't have enough compaction yet to support the overpass," Irons said of the area west of Hillman-Ford road near the CSX railroad.

Read more at: http://www.marionstar.com/article/20110805/NEWS01/108050301

Yachiyo plant expanding in Marion

More jobs on the way

Feb. 15, 2012 

Written by

John Jarvis

The Marion Star

 

MARION - U.S. Yachiyo Inc. has selected Marion for an expansion that the affiliate of Honda Motor Co. Ltd. said will create more than 30 jobs.

 

U.S. Yachiyo made its announcement on Tuesday morning, the day after Marion City Council approved a resolution recommending the Marion County Board of Commissioners approve a 50 percent, 10-year tax abatement on the 40,000-square-foot-plus addition. The project enables the company to increase its plastic fuel tank production by more than 25 percent.

 

A tier 1 supplier of automotive gasoline tanks for Honda in Marysville, U.S. Yachiyo will invest more than $10 million on the expansion and add more than 30 jobs to the 175 jobs existing at its plant in the Dual Rail Industrial Park in northwest Marion.

 

Read more at:

http://www.marionstar.com/article/20120215/NEWS01/202150304/Yachiyo-plant-expanding-Marion?odyssey=nav%7Chead

Marion Intermodal expects continued growth

Increase in traffic will put more pressure on Ohio 309, owner of facility says

Jan 27, 2013

Written by John Jarvis

The Marion Star

 

MARION — While hoping to receive state funding to relocate Ohio 309 to the other side of his business property, owner Ted Graham said the amount of freight moving through Marion Intermodal continues to grow.

 

On July 30, Schneider National Inc. and CSX “opened up the depot so we could get product from not only the West Coast and Mexico, but most of the East Coast, so that opened up and increased volumes at the depot,” Graham said, referring to the site of his Marion Industrial Center, where the former Marion Engineer Depot was located.

 

Another expansion will come to fruition Feb. 11 when an additional loop of railroad track Graham had built at the east end of Marion Intermodal will be complete, and CSX traffic will begin arriving via a connection in Ridgeway, 25 miles west of Marion, he said. The addition of a ramp at Marion Intermodal in conjunction with CSX’s construction of the railroad turn in Ridgeway, connected Marion Intermodal with CSX’s $175 million intermodal terminal in the northwest village of North Baltimore.

 

“We’re putting in great big loop so that trains can pull in and pull back out without ever having to unhook, and because of that it gives the depot and intermodal operation a great deal of flexibility in having additional railroad traffic,” he said.

 

Read more at:  http://www.marionstar.com/article/20130127/NEWS01/301270020?gcheck=1

City of Marion announces $7 million expansion to Harding homestead

By Dean Narciso, The Columbus Dispatch

Tuesday, April 12, 2016 - 4:57 PM

 

MARION, Ohio — State and local officials this morning announced plans to create a presidential museum and library to honor President Warren G. Harding, including a visitors center, interactive exhibits and restoration of the 29th president's home.

 

The project is expected to cost $7.3 million, a combination public and private funds, and would be complete by 2020, the centennial of Harding's election on Nov. 2, 1920.  It is expected to be a boon to the local economy and a source of pride for a community that has been hard hit by drugs and crime in recent years.

 

MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/04/12/city-of-marion-announces-expansion-to-harding-homestead.html

Here are the renderings for the Harding homestead expansion project that would include the addition of a visitor center/museum on the property containing the 29th president's home :

 

 

 

OhioHealth plans $46M Marion hospital expansion

By Carrie Ghose – Staff Reporter, Columbus Business First

Posted:  Aug 22, 2018 - 7:58am

 

OhioHealth Corp. plans a $46 million expansion and renovation project at its hospital in Marion, including a three-story addition that will allow converting to all-private rooms. ... The four-year master plan of projects will start this fall, including prep work for expansion to break ground in spring.  Other projects include renovating the hospital endoscopy unit and revamping the entry to a nearby physician office building to better work with the hospital's main entry.

 

OhioHealth wants to increase referrals to the hospital from Marion and surrounding counties, hospital President Bruce Hagen said in a statement.  Increased services also mean sicker patients can stay in Marion instead of transferring to Columbus.

 

The largest part of the work at Marion General Hospital is the $33 million, three-story expansion that will add 40 private rooms. ... After it opens, renovation of older rooms will convert them to private from double-occupancy.  Overall, the hospital will grow to 257 beds from 250.

 

MORE:  https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2018/08/22/ohiohealth-plans-46m-marion-hospital-expansion.html

 

Marion General Hospital set to open new patient care wing

 

Patients arriving at Marion General Hospital in the near future can expect to see a new look in the eastern part of the facility.  The OhioHealth hospital will officially open its 3-story, 60,000 square foot addition to the public Tuesday.  According to a news release, the wing will feature 24 spacious medical/surgical and 24 intermediate private patient rooms.

( . . . )

The completion of the expansion is the final piece of a three-phase, $46.15 million construction project that started on the Marion Medical Campus.  A $3 million endoscopy unit opened in August 2019 and a $1 million renovation of the green entrance lobby was completed last year.

 

MORE:  https://www.marionstar.com/story/news/2021/01/10/marion-general-hospital-set-open-new-patient-care-wing/6604277002/

Meet the landscaper who became a developer on the side and changed his hometown

 

Luke Henry is a perfect example of, "If you can dream it, you can do it."

 

He set his sights on transforming a dilapidated block in downtown Marion a few years ago and has since spurred redevelopment projects well beyond his own.

 

Henry is the founder of commercial landscaping company Proscape and development company Henry Development Co., which has reshaped downtown Marion.

 

Before he and a partner bought a handful of buildings in the city's downtown, he had little development experience, but said he could see the potential.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2025/03/05/luke-henry-proscape-development-marion.html