The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
‘A lot going on’
City manager discusses economic development projects during speech
Progress is being made on some significant economic development projects in the city of Painesville.
That assessment was offered by Painesville City Manager Doug Lewis when he spoke at a recent Eastern Lake County Chamber of Commerce meeting.
The chamber conducted a membership meeting at Perry Community Center in Perry Township that featured presentations by government officials from nine eastern Lake County communities. Those leaders shared 2021 highlights from their hometowns on subjects ranging from road-construction plans to new housing subdivisions.
Lewis kicked off his speech with updates on three major building renovation or restoration projects in the city:
• Signature Health’s new Painesville Medical Center.
“This is a $6 million project that is currently underway and will create approximately 50 jobs within the downtown,” Lewis said.
Signature Health’s outpatient medical center is being developed at the site of a former Rite Aid store at 54 S. State St. Plans call for 32,000 square feet of renovations to the building.
“The city has completed a health care assessment to determine the impact of health care gaps within our community,” Lewis said. “From that assessment, we’ve been working with Signature Health on the new Painesville Medical Campus to fill some of those gaps.”
• The former Chase Bank building at 30 South Park Place.
Lewis said the building, which has been vacant for many years, recently was purchased.
“The (new owners) are proposing housing with the potential for student housing, so they are working with Lake Erie College,” he said. “In either case, the upper floors will be residential, and the lower level will be a mixture of commercial, retail and residential. We anticipate that the formal plans will be submitted later this summer.”
Lewis added that the city worked with the Downtown Painesville Organizational to obtain a grant to make restoration improvements to the brick on the exterior of the building.
“So we have received roughly $100,000 to do that and that project will start sometime later this year,” he said.
• Victoria Place, located at 100 South Park Place.
“The building was purchased this past year, and it’s the same developer as the Chase building,” Lewis said. “So the good news about that is we have a developer in our downtown who has a huge stake in making sure that those buildings are successful in the downtown.”
Lewis said city Economic Development Director Cathy Bieterman and the new owners of Victoria Place have been working to obtain a $2 million JOBS Ohio Vibrant Community Grant.
“If we receive that grant, what (the Victoria Place owner) will use it for is to improve approximately 50,000 square feet of corporate office space within that building,” he said.
In addition to office space, the new owners of Victoria Place have proposed commercial and residential development to take place in the building, Lewis added.
Lewis also told the chamber audience about some employers in Painesville that will be creating additional jobs in the city:
• Ohio Associated Enterprises will relocate a part of its business from California to Painesville. Plans call for adding 88 new jobs at OAE’s Painesville division, which operates as Meritec.
• Evolve Concepts/Evolve Transporters will be expanding and hiring 30 new employees.
• Avery Dennison will be making a major investment and creating about 25 new jobs at their plant on Chester Street in Painesville.
Lewis was appointed as Painesville’s new city manager in December. He replaced Monica Irelan, who left to accept a city manager’s job in Westerville.
Prior to being selected as city manager, Lewis had served as Painesville’s assistant city manager for 12 years.
“There’s a lot going on in the city of Painesville right now,” he said. “As the new city manager, I’m trying to get up to speed on the many projects that were started, and bring some new ideas to the city of Painesville and get them moving.”