BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT B1
RECORDER
Your Community Recorder newspaper serving Florence E-mail: kynews@communitypress.com T h u r s d a y, A p r i l
Tim Leatherman of Perfection Pest Control
8, 2010
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Houston Road stays a retail draw
By Justin B. Duke jbduke@nky.com
Volume 15 Number 29 © 2010 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Paws to Read aids young readers
Visiting the children’s department of the main branch of the Boone County Library every other Saturday morning means an extra treat, because children can visit with very special therapy dogs. The Paws to Read program started last spring. Its goal is to improve the reading skills of children by encouraging them to read to dogs. – LIFE, PAGE B1
Rotary honors Teachers of Year
One transformed a high school club into a model of community service. Another solved a conflict over practice times by leading the effort to arrange for another soccer field. And a third turned a field trip to a food pantry into an elementary school “grocery” for needy families. All three are Boone County teachers and the first Florence Rotary Club Teacher of the Year recipients. – STORY, PAGE B9
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Find out what’s going on as news happens in Boone County. You can read updates several times a day on the Boone Blog, http://news.nky.com/booneblog. Get regular updates about Boone County news on Twitter as well: • twitter.com/McKibbenNews • twitter.com/Nancy_Daly • twitter.com/crkysports
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While Mall Road is getting a lot of attention, another Florence road keeps getting businesses. Over the past few years, new businesses have flocked to Houston Road, including some former Mall Road tenants like Dick’s Sporting Goods and Michaels. “Retailers like to be located in the most up-to-date, dynamic locations,” said City Coordinator Rick Lunnemann. Before serving as city coordinator, Lunnemann was Florence’s community development director, and worked on shaping Houston Road. A turning point in Houston Road’s development was when the city set standards for the types of buildings that could go in for the section between Woodspoint Drive and Ky. 18 that includes the Super Walmart, IHOP and Cheddar’s, Lunnemann said. “The quality of the development is the result of the development standards,” he said. When Walmart moved up the street, the city worked closely with Walmart to not just leave an “empty box” in the store’s former location. The result is a Guitar Center, Half Price Books and
Babies R Us – all of which have their only Northern Kentucky locations in Florence. Even when businesses don’t do well on Houston Road, vacancies usually don’t last long, as evidenced by the former Linens n’ Things that is now the Christmas Tree Shops. An exception to the rule is the former Media Play that has remained vacant for years. A lot of Houston Road’s success can be credited to the aging status of Mall Road, Lunnemann said. The forthcoming Mall Road revitalization project will serve to give Mall Road a more up-to-date appeal that retailers want, he said. “Houston Road and Mall Road will be on even playing fields in
the near future,” Lunnemann said. City leaders aren’t worried that retailers will want to move back and forth between Mall Road and Houston Road depending on which road has been most recently updated. “They’re two very different kinds of corridors,” said Business/Community Development Director Josh Wice. Once the revitalization project is complete, Mall Road will likely house the smaller, specialized stores and Houston Road will have the larger multipurpose stores, Wice said. Houston Road is nearing a point where there won’t be much more room for development, so filling vacancies will be the
JUSTIN B. DUKE/STAFF
remaining task, he said. Houston Road was recently dealt a blow that created a large vacancy. Longtime tenant Bigg’s is set to close by the end of June, which will cost 111 jobs. City leaders have an internal “wish list” of retailers and restaurants they want to see in Florence. The list isn’t shared with the public, Wice said. Having a small number of vacancies “might not be a bad thing” for getting new retailers, Wice said. Looking forward, Lunnemann and Wice see the mix of restaurants and retailers on Houston Road – along with a revamped Mall Road – helping Florence remain Northern Kentucky’s retail hub.
Pinwheels for a cause
Four-year-old Karly Holleran of Crittenden holds pinwheels to put in the ground in front of the Northern Kentucky Child Advocacy Center in Florence. The 788 pinwheels signify the number of reported cases of child abuse in the eight Northern Kentucky counties.
PATRICIA A. SCHEYER / CONTRIBUTOR
Florence church’s yard sale for everyone By Justin B. Duke jbduke@nky.com
Spring cleaning can produce a lot of unwanted items, and a local church wants to help get rid of them. Florence Christian Church is hosting a community yard sale from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 10. Rev. Diane Zehr, a co-pastor at the church, knows yard sales are nothing new, nor is the church the first to have a community yard
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sale, but the event is a sign of the church’s efforts to keep some of its traditions while trying something new. The church has had sales in the past, but they’ve always been internal. This is the first time the church sale will allow anyone to sell their goods, Zehr said. “It’s a service that not everyone is able to do at their homes,” she said. On the day of the sale, interested sellers can pay the church $20 for a table to sell whatever they
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have. Any money made from the sale is kept by the sellers. Inviting the community to join in with its yard sale shows the church’s commitment to the area it’s called home since 1831. “We want to be good members of the community,” Zehr said. While the sale does serve as a fundraiser for the church, it is a way for church members to “rub shoulders” with the neighbors, she said. “We see ourselves as an anchor in the community,” Zehr
8160 Dream Street Florence, KY 41042 859-282-7040
www.edwardjones.com Member SIPC
said. While the church has a long history, its members have new ideas and the sale is a classic way to put them into practice. “Many of our members are into ecology and recycling,” Zehr said. Allowing the community to sell off unwanted items helps keep something someone else may find useful from ending up in a landfill, she said. For more information, visit www.florencechristian.org.