Inside Grandview Heights:
Growth is the Goal
Willis of Ohio sets expansion plans in motion
By: Lindsay Friedman
For the past few months, international business Willis of Ohio has worked alongside Continental Realty and Nationwide Realty Investors to move from its previous location in Upper Arlington to a bigger facility at 775 Yard St. in Grandview Heights.
The company intends to continue expansion and hire those who will deliver great customer service to clients.
“We have looked at multiple sites around Columbus and ultimately decided that Grandview Yard provides us the best opportunity to grow our business. They have been great partners in helping us find a location,” says Frank McKain, regional partner of Willis of Ohio.
Willis of Ohio provides insurance, risk management advising and employee benefits. The corporation has had a presence in Ohio for the past 25 years with offices in the Columbus and Cleveland areas.
The company has more than 400 offices in 120 countries all over the world. It employs more than 17,000 people, approximately 100 from Ohio and 95 of them in the Columbus area. The business has also converted the Sears Tower of Chicago into what is slowly becoming known as the Willis Tower.
The group is known for its effort to create innovative and improved tactics to better serve clients and their interests as they partner together in order to better performances and alter the business world to better fit customers’ needs.
“
We just want to deliver great client service and grow to be the best in class insurance advisor in Columbus,” McKain says.
Reactions to the current shift include excitement, anticipation and satisfaction in regards to finding an ideal building for the company.
“It’s a great location and it lends itself to a new identity for our firm,” McKain says. “It’s a beautiful building, with great visibility (and) development, and the energy is just electric.”
The goal in relocating the Willis of Ohio offices is to mirror the overall intentions of the company.
“We wanted an office building that matches our commitment to our clients and grow in Columbus,” says McKain.
Through moving to a new venue, Willis of Ohio has also set its sights on a new goal as the firm begins to take steps to move in a different direction.
“We want to take Willis to the next level in Columbus, and we see our location in Grandview Yard as a fundamental step to do that,” McKain says.
The company moved into the building Dec. 19 and is currently open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. McKain says he anticipates a smooth and easy transition.
“We greatly appreciate our partnership with Continental Realty, Nationwide Realty Investors and the city of Grandview,” says McKain. “The Grandview Yard will help us continue to grow.”
Lindsay Friedman is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at laurand@pubgroupltd.com.
Get Organized, Grandview!
Today’s Organized Home wants to help promote better organization in people’s homes by providing a destination for purging unwanted items. A “drop site” will be held on Jan. 14 in the store’s parking lot, located at 885 W. Fifth Ave. Residents can drive through and drop off items they want to donate. Door prizes and gift bags will also be given away to those in attendance.
A trade show featuring various vendors teaching organizing classes will be held inside. For more information, call Today’s Organized Home at 614-754-8234.
Grandview Heights High School Presents Oklahoma! March 8-10
Grandview Heights High School students are in the throes of preparation for the annual winter musical. This year, a cast of 50 students will perform the 1943 Broadway musical Oklahoma!, a romantic comedy featuring the love story of cowboy Curly McLain and farm girl Laurey Williams in the school’s auditorium, 1587 W. Third Ave.
Performances are scheduled for 8 p.m. March 8-10, with an additional matinee slated for 2 p.m. March 10. Calamity dates in case of inclement weather are 7 p.m. March 11-13 and 3 p.m. March 11. General admission tickets cost $8 and will be on sale in the high school office beginning Feb. 27, and at the door before each performance.
Inside Upper Arlington:
Community Commitment at Concourse
UA’s gallery to feature Columbus gallery artists, elementary school students
Marcia Evans Gallery
Contemporary original art pieces from the Short North’s Marcia Evans Gallery will brighten Upper Arlington’s Concourse Gallery in January.
Concourse Gallery is partnering with Marcia Evans Gallery to exhibit the creations of local, regional and national artists such as Trevor Boyle, John Donnelly, Michael Halliday, Karen LaValley, Barbara Mink, Annette Poitau and Linda Wesner.
“It is a great opportunity for art to get in front of a different audience in Upper Arlington and for the people of Upper Arlington to see different art,” says Lynette Santoro-Au, arts manager for the City of Upper Arlington.
The Marcia Evans Gallery is a unique space in the Short North showcasing new artists alongside seasoned ones, with styles ranging from landscapes to modern art.
The exhibit at Concourse Gallery will be a show of two-dimensional, mostly abstract pieces. It runs Jan. 5-27, with a public reception from 5-7 p.m. Jan. 12. The reception includes ArtSpeak, a formal opportunity for guests to hear featured artists explain their processes, and time for casual talk with the artists and Marcia Evans, the gallery’s namesake.
Elementary Schools
Upper Arlington elementary schools’ student artists will show off their hard work at Concourse Gallery Feb. 1-24.
Students whose works will be featured hail from Barrington, Greensview, St. Agatha Catholic, St. Andrew, Tremont, Wellington, Wickliffe and Windermere elementary schools.
Barrington Elementary School art teachers Gwen Davis and Lou Tiberi say they believe art education is vital for the curriculum and the community because its core skills are key in the 21st Century global world.
Each school will contribute between 20 and 35 pieces, depending on the size of the school, totaling more than 180 student works.
“(The exhibit) gives a chance for students to excel in different ways, other than academics or athletics,” says Loraine Severance, an art teacher at Greensview Elementary School. “This is an opportunity for students with different learning styles to get recognition.”
Santoro-Au says students tell her years after their art was shown at the gallery that they will always remember the experience.
“I like the partnership,” says Santoro-Au. “It provides an established, professional setting for the students’ work and it shows the creativity happening at our schools.”
Concourse Gallery is located at 3600 Tremont Rd., Upper Arlington. It is open Monday through Friday from 8 to 5 p.m. For more information, contact Concourse Gallery at 614-583-5310 or visit www.uaoh.net.
Tessa Dufresne is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at .
Inside the Village of Marble Cliff:
Marble Cliff Plans Dublin Road Improvements in 2012
For many years, the main north-south road leading northwest from Columbus was known as Dublin Pike. That dirt road, which followed the Scioto Indian Trail and the Scioto River, is today’s five-lane paved Dublin Road, a heavily traveled highway and part of the state transportation network.
During 2012, Dublin Road will undergo several phased improvements, including rehabilitating and replacing storm sewers, street repaving and, subject to funding through Columbus Department of Recreation and Parks, an extension of the Scioto Trail Bikeway to the intersection of West Fifth Avenue and Dublin Road.
Marble Cliff shares financial responsibility for Dublin Road maintenance with the Ohio Department of Transportation and the City of Columbus. The Village maintains the underground utilities and traffic control devices along its quarter-mile stretch of Dublin. ODOT maintains the pavement surface. The City of Columbus maintains the traffic signal at West Fifth Avenue and Dublin Road under a service contract with the Village of Marble Cliff. The City of Columbus will bear the cost of constructing and maintaining the Scioto Trail Bikeway.
Motorists will first experience lane closures in January 2012 as storm sewer pipes under Dublin Road and the outfalls above the Scioto River are rehabilitated. Old corrugated metal pipes, installed many years ago when Dublin Road was widened, have deteriorated, causing water ponding, depressions, erosion and unplanned lane closures for spot repairs.
The storm sewer rehabilitation project, led by Village Engineer Louis McFarland from the engineering firm of Burgess and Niple Ltd., was awarded to the lowest and best bidder, Nutter Excavating LLC. The proposed work will require lane restrictions along Dublin Road beginning in January 2012 and lasting until the end of May 2012. Construction will be sequenced such that one lane of traffic in each direction is maintained throughout the duration of the project.
Due to the size of the storm sewer rehabilitation project, Marble Cliff submitted and was awarded a grant from the Ohio Public Works Commission to cover 74 percent of the $195,000 project cost. The grant requires no repayment.
“Village officials worked very hard to submit a request for OPWC funding in a timely manner that would coincide with the other scheduled work along Dublin Road. The Village is pleased and honored to be selected for the grant,” says Mayor Kent Studebaker.
Later in the fall of 2012, the state of Ohio will resurface Dublin Road from Trabue Road southeast past Cardigan Avenue. At this time, ODOT expects to sequence construction so that one lane of traffic in each direction is maintained.
Plans are being finalized by the City of Columbus Department of Recreation and Parks to extend the Scioto Trail Bikeway from the current terminus near the Riversedge Business Park to the southeast corner of West Fifth Avenue and Dublin Road. The paved bikeway is to cross Dublin Road at the Stella Court traffic signal and continue northward on the east side of Dublin into Marble Cliff. When the bikeway is installed, Marble Cliff has asked that new crosswalk signals and handicapped ramps also be installed at the intersection of West Fifth Avenue and Dublin Road. A construction schedule has not been finalized yet for this project, but activities may begin as early as the summer of 2012.
Income Tax Filing Information for 2010
Last year, the Marble Cliff Village Council adopted regulations requiring all residents of to file a local income tax return with Marble Cliff for tax year 2011.
Unless meeting the requirements for exemption from filing, all residents – including residents who have their income tax withheld by their employers – must file a local return for Marble Cliff. Owners of rental property in Marble Cliff are also required to file a local income tax return for Marble Cliff, even if they have experienced a loss for the tax year.
The City of Columbus administers Marble Cliff’s income taxes. This means that residents will use the Marble Cliff line on City of Columbus income tax forms to file their required Marble Cliff tax return. Tax forms will be available at the Marble Cliff Village Hall at 1600 Fernwood Ave. They may also be obtained by calling the City of Columbus Income Tax Division at 614-645-7370 or by downloading the forms from the Columbus Income Tax Division website: www.columbustax.net.
Additional information about Marble Cliff’s income tax requirements – including requirements for exemptions, a list of common categories of taxable income and an informative Q&A – is available at www.marblecliff.org/tax.htm.