Chamber presents beautification awards

0

BOTKINS — Eleven Sidney-Shelby County Chamber of Commerce members businesses or organizations were recognized for the improvements they have made at their facilities in 2016. Beautification Awards were presented Tuesday evening during the annual chamber dinner.

The awards, presented by Vice President Dawn Eilert, were for exterior renovation, interior renovation, new construction, remodeling, addition or major landscaping enhancement project at the member’s facility.

The award recipients are selected based on nominations from fellow Chamber members as well as community members and are approved by the Chamber of Commerce President Jeff Raible and Eilert.

Receiving awards were:

• Ashley Himes Insurance and Financial Service – State Farm owner Himes and her staff knew it was important to create an environment which made their clients and their team members feel at home – after all, it is their business motto to be “like a good neighbor.” They used soft colors, comfortable furniture, a coffee bar, snack bar and friendly smiling faces to achieve this.

• Bliss and Bloom owners Mike and Betsy Martin took a small residential home in the village of Anna and turned it into a cottage-style flower and gift shop. They added wood beams, chandeliers, cabinets, flooring, landscaping, fencing and created a backyard with cascading lights for candle and wine parties.

• Gallery 2:Ten owners Rick and Mila Hamilton “upcycled” the building previously known as Woody’s Market. They added three large display windows and an entrance closer to the parking lot. They replaced the ceiling, lighting, walls, gave everything a fresh coat of paint and installed a vinyl plank, wood looking floor. The exterior is embellished by a couple of Mila’s signature scrolls. The 1,600-square-foot showroom shows off more than 50 artist’s creations on consignment.

• Mutual Federal broke ground for a new state-of-the-art facility in October 2015 on the west end of Sidney. The construction was for a full service banking facility with new and innovative technology and ideology. The construction project was completed in April 2016 and their new office opened for business on June 10, 2016.

• Prather Automotive focused on having separate areas for sales and service customer comfortability when making their renovations. They started by remodeling the workshop and turning it into their sales area. They installed new drywall, windows, and a front door entrance. They re-faced the building with all new paint and re-sealed the blacktop.

• Jim and Karen Fortman and Jeff Ahrns purchased a 12,000-square-foot building for the new Fort Loramie location of Primary Eyecare Associates. A total of 4,800 square feet was renovated for their space and in January 2016, the optometry practice moved into their new location. This newly renovated space has allowed the Fort Loramie practice to expand its eye care services to include Vision Therapy. This location also houses two tenants – eBikes & Fitness as well as Eilerman Insurance Agency.

• Rolling Hills Skate gave its building on Russell Road a new look with a new coat of paint as well as new signage in 2016.

• The Shelby County Courthouse project started out with a desire to upgrade the heating and air conditioning system. The commissioners made the decision to include new windows and new indoor/outdoor lighting in the project. At that point, they considered all upgrade needs at the court house and ended up repairing and weatherizing all doors, doing masonry restoration on the front steps, installing a fire alarm system, repairing the roof and the clocks in the tower, repairing and upgrading the flagpoles and fountains, installing new sidewalks and landscaping as well as many other items.

• Sidney Hometown Pharmacy, formerly the Medicine Shoppe, changed its affiliation and became independently owned in May 2016. After 21 years of servicing Sidney and Shelby County, owners Bob and Kim Curlis commemorated this change by totally renovating the interior of the store and refurbishing the exterior building and property. The interior changes included all new fixtures in both the pharmacy and over the counter area, with floor to ceiling shelving and free standing cubical shelving to provide a more modern appearance and open area to enhance customers shopping experience. All new flooring and paint throughout the store along with new furniture and a TV in the waiting area created a home like atmosphere for customers. New signage was installed outside on the building displaying their new logo.

• The Sidney-Shelby County YMCA remodeled the Youth Center through a generous donation from Honda of America Manufacturing in August 2016. They installed exergaming equipment including I-Dance, Three Kick, Heavy Ball and ExerBike. In addition, in January they converted a racquetball court into a new functional training room that offers members an additional 800 square feet of space that includes kettle bells, a heavy bag, battle rope, slam balls, double end bag, foam rollers, Concept II Rower, TRX suspension trainers and a rack for Olympic lifts.

• Wilson Health opened the Thomas Boecker Professional Building in the summer of 2016. The new addition, which is named after and dedicated to former President and CEO Thomas Boecker, is home to 21 Wilson Health Medical Group family medicine, internal medicine, ob/gyn and pediatric providers. The 48,000-square-foot building is located on the Wilson Health campus and was designed specifically with the patients and families in mind. It is also the home of the new After Hours Clinic which opened in January 2017.

Staff report

No posts to display