April 2017 | Business View Magazine

96 97 lege, Owens Community College, and Bowling Green State University - all within a half-hour drive of the city. Oregon doesn’t have a downtown core. But they’re going to build one. “We just formed the Downtown Oregon Planning Committee and we’re actively planning for that right now,” says Myers. “This isn’t something you usually hear, but we have an existing Big Box retailer that we are hoping/praying will announce they are closing shop, as they are doing across the coun- try.We’ve identified their current site and the land behind it as the location to build “Down- town Oregon.”We’re trying to get creative with financing, and do it in phases with a residential, mix-use component. Taking a thoughtful ap- proach to ensure we build an urban core that future Oregonians can buy into and support. Preferred vendors n Local 50 Union www.ualocal50.com Local 50 of The United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry is located in metropolitan, Toledo, Ohio. Its members provide plumbing, pipefitting, and HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) services for the needs of homeowners, business, industry, and government installations through- out the twelve counties in Northwest Ohio. Local 50 has over 1,400 members. They are among the area’s safest, most efficient, and most highly-skilled professionals in the industry. In addition the men and women of Local 50 are very involved in their communities, supporting the work of organizations such as: Habitat for Humanity, Old News- boys, HEATS ON, Sunshine Children’s Home, Dollars Against Diabetes, Alzheimer’s Association, the Boy Scouts and many others. n The Shelly Company www.shellyco.com Oregon, Ohio There are a lot of ‘ifs’, but we want to be ready. When that big box closes, we’re not going to see that most valuable real estate in our city crippled and abandoned.” The City of Oregon has a robust industri- al network. Their refineries and gas plants make more energy than all the mid-west put together. Business is good, and residents are proud of the great quality of life. Myers tells it like it is, “What’s unique about Oregon is that we were burst out of a 19th-century town- ship model, and not incorporated as a city until 1958.That’s why we don’t have a traditional downtown core.We’re a very talented, hardwork- ing quintessential salt of the earth people in Oregon, but sometimes we like to be left alone, to just do our thing.”Words to live well by. With a population that consistently hovers around 21,000, showcasing Ore- gon as a great place to live is an opportunity the city can’t afford to pass up. They are strategically creating more parkland, walking and running trails, and building bike lanes and paths that connect the local, state, and national parks.