With at least 10 businesses recently opened or opening soon on East State and Court streets, business owners and local officials have developed varying opinions about why Athens is attracting new ventures.
That group of businesses includes three new restaurants, two new hotels, a new tanning salon, a dance club, a pharmacy, a farming store and a bank.
Athens provides a lot of big-city activities without a fast-paced, overwhelming feeling, said Mike Noel of Panich and Noel Architects, a company that has worked on several East State Street properties.
You don't feel crowded and congested
he said. The presence of Ohio University also creates a stable economy in Athens, unlike some other southeast Ohio areas, he said.
Businesses such as the new CVS pharmacy and Applebee's Bar and Grill cater to a demographic that includes college-aged students, he added.Increased traffic flow along East State Street has attracted more construction of businesses in that corridor, said Larry Payne, member services coordinator for the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce.
When traffic flow was monitored on East State Street in November 2005, about 19,000 cars were traveling there daily, said city Street Department Director Andy Stone.
Businesses like to go where there is a large volume of traffic he said.
The city's widening of East State Street three years ago eased the traffic flow and made the area more user-friendly and conducive to business, Payne said.
Even the presence of businesses attracts more businesses because owners know people are more likely to make a shopping trip when they have a bigger variety of stores in an area.
Since the Athens Wal-Mart opened about four years ago, about 1,000 new jobs have been created by businesses opening in Athens, he said. However, several hundred jobs likely have been lost because of businesses closing in that time, he said.
And then there are the alumni. James Ross, who owns the new Outer Glow Tanning Salon at 14 S. Court St., decided to start his salon in Athens because he loved the town during his four years as a student in OU's College of Business.
A projected growth in the number of students at OU during the next five years might also indicate to businesses that there are growth opportunities in Athens, said Paige Alost, executive director of the Athens County Convention and Visitors' Bureau.
According to the OU Office of Institutional Research Web site, the university is projecting an undergraduate student enrollment of 17,750 for 2010, an increase of 0.5 percent from 2005's 16,761, or about 0.1 percent per year.
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Andrea Golby
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Top Right: Kelly Skinner (left) and Brett Christian work on the roof support beams of the Holiday Inn Express Hotel currently under
construction on East State Street. When finished the hotel will sit behind Applebee's and CVS, two other businesses tha
