With the deadline looming to have the architectural design for the hospital finalized, the Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District board approved a final design last week that stays within the district's financial abilities.

 

"If we build the building that was last presented to the board of directors in November, it is now projected that the cost will be in excess of $21 million," said Ray Hino, CEO for the TVHD. "We currently have approximately $16.4 million to spend on the project."

 

He said the $16.4 million includes a $15 million bond, $500,000 from a federal grant, $250,000 from the Guild of the Tehachapi Hospital, $400,000 from sale of land and approximately $200,000 from the hospital foundation.

 

Another $100,000 will come from Tower Investments, which pledged to give that amount for the construction of the hospital if the facility was built on the Broome site.

More jobs could soon be headed to Galesburg: the new owners of the old Butler plant have big plans for the area.

Tower Investments and the Industrial Reality Group, both out of California, purchased the property last week. The companies specialize in redeveloping old industrial lots.

They hope to break up the more than 107 acres of land and 950-thousand square feet of buildings and sell or rent them to multiple companies, creating a massive Galesburg Industrial Center.

The Galesburg Regional Economic Development Association, or GREDA, thinks this will bring great things to the city.

Clarion Hotel staff geared up on Tuesday to officially celebrate the top-to-bottom renovation of the downtown Sioux City hotel.

 

The former Plaza Hotel, which became part of the national Clarion chain earlier this year, invited more than 350 local leaders to a grand reopening party from 5 to 7 p.m. today.

 

"It's going to be a major event for the hotel," said David Golida, the Clarion's director of sales.

 

Hotel staff will showcase more than $2.8 million in renovations, which include refurbishing guest rooms and the lounge and restaurant, upgrading amenities and adding new guest services.

If anyone is concerned there just aren't enough condominiums in downtown Little Rock/North Little Rock, worry no more.  At least 400 condos are on the drawing board or under construction with the first batch of new units arriving in 2006.

 

Eight projects of varied sizes are pursuing urban dwellers in a trendy market that could prove challenging for some developers.

 

"This will really be a good test for the depth of the downtown condominium market," said Jimmy Moses, partner in Little Rock's Moses Tucker Real Estate, Inc.  "I'm excited to see all these projects and hope they all succeed.  That's what is going to make downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock more vibrant."  His well-wishing isn't just nice-guy banter.

Six months after buying the Lafayette, Arkansas and M.M. Cohn Buildings, a Woodland, Calif., real estate development group unveiled plans to renovate those and two others for condominiums, office and retail space.

 

Lafayette Square, developed by Tower Investments, LLC and local partners Colliers Dickson Flake Partners, will also include the Kahn and Boyle buildings on Sixth Street between Louisiana and Main streets.  The groups plan to renovate all five buildings, installing two levels of parking, improving facades and providing modern amenities.  Upscale condominiums in the buildings will sell for between $160,000-$325,000, developers said.

The Plaza name checked out Wednesday as the Clarion flag began flying over a downtown Sioux City hotel.

 

The 12-story hotel at 707 Fourth St. officially became part of the national Clarion chain Wednesday.  Clarion is the top-of-the-line brand for Choice hotels, which markets more than 5,000 properties in 40 countries under flags that also include Comfort Inn, Econo Lodge, Quality Inn and Rodeway Inn.

 

Workers hoisted temporary Clarion banners on the side of the former Plaza.  Permanent exterior signs are expected to arrive in mid-September, said David Golida, director of sales for the hotel.  On Oct. 1, the Sioux City hotel is set to gain access to Choice Hotel's reservation system.

Compared with other midsize industrial cities in the Northeast, Rochester, N.Y., looked like a jewel. New York's third-largest city by population could boast the headquarters of Eastman Kodak Co., which gave a boost to the overall manufacturing sector, plus it had a healthy telecommunications industry and a growing health-care sector.

 

Rochester, which sits next to Lake Ontario, has started to look more like such struggling neighbors as Cleveland, Buffalo and Syracuse. The Rochester region took hits from the nation's manufacturing shakeout, the rout of the telecommunications industry and a shrinking Kodak, which by some measures has lost the title of the area's biggest employer to the University of Rochester.

The unveiling of the Clarion Hotel flag, under which the former Plaza Hotel and Convention Conference Center will operate, marks a new day for downtown Sioux City, officials declared Friday.

"It's been a long time in coming," Lucy Rowley, a housekeeping employee who has worked at the hotel since 1976, said. "It's appreciated."

Paul Curley, the hotel's general manager, unveiled the $2.8 million in renovation plans and predicted the renovation would be completed by October. He made the announcement in the hotel's 12th floor ballroom surrounded by employees, city officials and business people.

A California company continues to roll the dice on a plan to build a massive casino and resort at the former Eastman Kodak Co. Riverwood campus in Henrietta.  This week, the company gave a tour to the Seneca Indian Nation, which owns casinos in Niagara Falls and Salamanca, Cattaraugus County.

Tower Investments bought the land for $3.5 million in December and is exploring options for the huge office buildings and park-like land along the Genesee River. But its top option is clear: a casino with a hotel, conference center, golf course and a host of other amenities.

Just 2 1/2 years ago, the doors were ready to close on Cuba Memorial Hospital.

 

The hospital on the hill overlooking the Allegany County village of 1,600 had a stairwell going to nowhere because it had spent its borrowed construction money to pay its regular bills. The beds in its acute-care unit were only half-full, and the accountants figured the hospital had enough money left to operate for 10 days.

 

"We were so close to going away," said Andrew Boser, the hospital's chief executive officer. But the hospital defied an almost inexorable trend over the past several decades that has seen hospitals close in places such as Batavia, Salamanca, Albion, Jamestown and Olean. Unlike many hospitals serving rural areas and small cities, Cuba Memorial survived.