Homebuilders: Construction Returning to Pre-recession Levels.
Thursday, June 26, 2014YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Despite a harsh winter and rainy spring, more new houses have been built in the Mahoning Valley so far this year than at this point a year ago.
How rough was last winter?
“I put 500-gallon propane tanks at four houses and in a month and a week, my bill was $10,000 – for heating the houses so their foundations wouldn’t crack,” says Bill Clipse, owner of Meander Homes Construction Inc., Austintown “You can build all year. It’s just a matter of you have to pick and choose [the days you work].”
'3 Minutes With' Jennie Brewer, Executive Officer, Home Builders & Remodelers Association of the Valley
Thursday, June 26, 2014YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Today's “3 Minutes With” features Jennie Brewer, executive officer of the Home Builders & Remodelers Association of the Valley. In the segment, Brewer discusses how new environmental regulations are going to impact home building, challenges facing home builders and buyers, construction activity and the quality of homes built here (READ RELATED STORY).
Gem-Young Takes on Wealth Advisory, Risk Management Roles
Thursday, June 26, 2014CANFIELD, Ohio -- Gem-Young Insurance & Financial Services Inc. is taking on new roles, Leo Daprile, company president, announced Wednesday. Effective July 1, its financial services arm becomes a wealth advisory firm and the insurance side becomes a risk management firm.
Both businesses will remain under the same roof on Starr’s Centre Drive here.
Facebook, Chambers Host Free Workshops for Business
Thursday, June 26, 2014YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Between June 30 and July 2, Facebook’s Small Business Boost will blitz northeastern, central and eastern Ohio to teach small-business owners how to use social media to boost their sales. One event, sponsored by the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, is scheduled for 9 to 10:30 a.m. July 1 in Canfield.
The Canfield session will be held at the Joyce Brooks Conference Center in the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center, where U.S. Reps. Bill Johnson and Tim Ryan, R-6 Ohio and D-13 Ohio respectively, will greet participants.
Sales of High-End Housing Rebound in the Valley
Wednesday, June 25, 2014CANFIELD, Ohio -- Light instrumental music wafts through this newly listed house on Montereale Drive, the setting for an open house June 11 to showcase the upscale property for real estate agents.
The spacious, 5,444-square-foot contemporary house, built in 2000, has six bedrooms, 14-foot ceilings, a custom kitchen, a finished basement with media room and exercise room, a full-house stereo system and a three-car heated garage. It’s been shown seven times since Celeste Kasten listed it three weeks ago, she says.
Tod Cemetery Building a $700K Columbarium Garden
Wednesday, June 25, 2014YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Tod Homestead Cemetery is constructing a new columbarium memorial garden, a $700,000 investment to accommodate the growing practice of cremation.
The two-acre feature is designed as a “place for repose and reflection,” states an announcement from the cemetery’s governing body. It will include a fountain, landscaping, walkways and 10 low-profile structures with a total of 960 spaces for cremation remains. Completion is scheduled for this fall.
CCA Solicits More Support to Keep Its Prison Here
Wednesday, June 25, 2014YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- By late October, the company that operates the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center on the East Side should learn whether the federal government intends to renew a make-or-break contract it holds with the lockup, or shift the bulk of its prison population elsewhere.
NYO Foresees 2016 Opening for Stambaugh Hotel
Wednesday, June 25, 2014YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- NYO Property Group LLC anticipates opening its new downtown hotel by summer or fall 2016, following a 16-month “extensive renovation” beginning in the first half of 2015, a company spokesman says.
Reached via email Tuesday, Dominic C. Marchionda, NYO’s director of operations and strategic planning, said his company is “close to a decision and aims to make a final selection to partner with an experienced operator” by Aug. 1.
Tax Credit Boosts New Castle School Project
Wednesday, June 25, 2014YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The New Castle School of Trades anticipates opening a new East Liverpool branch next year, even though much work remains to be completed before the project can go forward.
“That’s an aggressive timeline but 2015 is still doable,” predicted Rex Spaulding, president of the New Castle, Pa., trade school.
'3 Minutes With' Ray Mancini, Boom Boom Entertainment
Wednesday, June 25, 2014YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Today's “3 Minutes With” features Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, principal of Boom Boom Entertainment. In the segment, the Youngstown native and former lightweight boxing champion discusses his plans to develop a television and film production studio downtown, a proposed reality show chronicling those efforts and the attractiveness of the Mahoning Valley to production companies (READ STORY).