Thoughts on 2017 summer construction
Ecclesiastes 1:9 – What has been will be again. What has been done will be done again. There is nothing new under the sun.
I couldn’t help but think of this phrase when looking at the new construction in the city of Marysville this summer.
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O’Reilly Autoparts
The O’Reilly Autoparts store being built on East Fifth Street is a head scratcher to me and apparently many people in town. New commercial properties are clearly good for the tax base, but autoparts are in no short supply here.
And the decision on the location itself must employ a knowledge of business that I do not posses. One of O’Reilly’s competitors will be a quarter mile away, while the other is across the street.
I know that restaurants will locate in clusters to make certain areas a dining destination. Essentially people will head to an spot with a small group of eateries and then decide where to eat based on specials, crowds or wait time.
But I don’t see families heading out for an evening of autopart shopping. When a person is looking for a item for their car, they tend to pick a store and then get in an out as fast as possible.
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Moo Moo Carwash
The construction in the parking lot of the Delaware Avenue Burger King seemed to come out of nowhere.
When word that the site would be a Moo Moo Carwash broke, people here seemed underwhelmed.
On the first sunny weekend of spring, many residents might ponder the need for more wash bays in the city, but most of the time I don’t think the wait times here are terrible.
There are already numerous small wash operation scattered around the city and some car dealerships offer free car washes for customers.
The Moo Moo operations in central Ohio, of which there are 11, do have an original look, in that the whole operation is contained inside a barn-like structure. The company touts it environmentally friendly operation and free vacuums, but, in general the operation is a standard automatic car wash.
I would even go so far as to question if there is even enough room for the business. It’s hard to imagine there is enough room for cars to park beside the building to use vacuums based on the available land.
On a side note, many people in town may also be wondering what will happen to the car shows which used to locate periodically in the BK parking lot, which is now great reduced in size. I don’t have an answer to that one yet, but if we are strictly looking at remaining available space, it is hard to imagine there will be room.
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Richwood Bank
While the large Richwood Bank facility may not be a new type of operation to city residents, it’s hard to argue that the facility isn’t going to greatly change the face of the uptown area.
The large brick and glass structure is tall and eye catching, but blends in with the character of other downtown buildings. The meandering concrete path along the town run will also offer a new visual element to the area, though if the shoreline of the waterway aren’t manicured any better than they are now, people may choose not to look that direction.
The additional parking spaces at the bank, which officials have said will be available for public use outside of business hours, will also serve to benefit the restaurants in the area which are bringing solid traffic uptown nightly.
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Primrose School
The under-construction Primrose School on Cobblestone Way in Mill Valley could be just what some people in town are looking for.
The early education/childcare center will be the closest to Marysville’s densest housing development and also looks to be a pretty upscale facility.
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What might have been
In its infancy, the new Kroger Marketplace seems to have found solid footing. It appears to have a steady stream of customers and its solid word of mouth is bringing in shoppers from other cities.
But the one thing that seems to be escaping the location is the ability to sell its outlots. When people noticed that there would be several site-ready spots for other new businesses, Marysville residents were giddy with the thought of new restaurants that could land there.
It seems only a matter of time until businesses stake their claims to the lots, but simply allotting space is not always a guarantee of a new tenant. The Lowes Home Improvement site has had an available outlot for years which is now simply and empty spot in the parking lot.
-Chad Williamson is the managing editor at the Journal-Tribune.