Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Donate
The Post - Athens, OH
The Post

MULTIMEDIA

The Post

Taking the land out from under them

By Seth Archer | Oct. 12, 2014

The land Ohio University owns on East State Street might be sold for more than $12 million, money that could be reinvested in buying land closer to its Athens campus.But selling the land would cost OU at least $496,000 a year in rent.OU’s Board of Trustees announced a resolution last week to sell most of its real estate on East State Street. The properties in question represent 70.63 acres of land, and the businesses which use the land include Lowes, Wal-Mart, Kroger, Staples and the Athens Mall.OU owns hundreds of acres in Athens County, including the land most university buildings sit on and the land it hopes to sell on East State Street. None of the land associated with OU’s Athens campus generates lease revenue. However, the university still makes hundreds of thousands of dollars from leasing land off-campus to corporations and businesses. Last year, OU made $759,480.28 in base rent. That does not include additional rent paid from businesses to the university based on businesses revenue for that year.In most situations in which businesses pay OU a percentage of their rent, 5 percent of a business’ revenue over a certain dollar-amount is paid in addition to the base rent.For example, Putnam Square Apartments pays $22,500 in base rent a year, plus an additional 5 percent on any money they bring in over $553,000.The land on East State Street OU wants to sell makes up 65.4 percent of the total base rent income. In other words, the university would give up a little under half a million dollars a year by selling the properties.The university’s Office of Real Estate Management found the more than 70 acres of rent-generating properties on East State Street as “surplus,” opening a route for sale.A memo from Stephen Golding, vice president for Finance and Administration, in the board’s agenda for this week’s meeting said rent the lease agreements currently generate for OU are “undervalued” warranting a sale of the properties.The properties have been found to be worth about $12.05 million, according to the evaluation. Selling the properties would be equivalent to generating more than 24 years of base rent, or less when the percentage rent is included.With the money generated from the sale, OU is possibly looking to expand its real estate holdings closer to the central campus. In the agenda, Golding said the new funds would allow the university to support the core mission of the university and expand the footprint of the Athens campus.A resolution at the board meeting will not sell the properties outright, but would grant the power to the President Roderick McDavis, or his designee, to “negotiate, evaluate, and dispose of these properties in a manner consistent with the requirements of Ohio law.”Decisions on what to do with any money generated are not final yet. First, the resolution allowing the properties to be sold has to be approved by the board. Then, the properties can be listed for sale. While they are being sold, two planning efforts are being undertaken by the Ridges Master Plan and Comprehensive Master Planning committees, said Donna Goss, director of Engagement and Real Estate Management, in the board agenda.The Ridges committee is looking at ways to improve the utilization of buildings and surrounding land at the former Athens Asylum, while the Comprehensive Master Planning committee guides the university in new construction and renovations. Business sitting on the land in question will most likely not be affected by the sale. A Kroger spokesperson said the company will likely transfer its rent to the new landlord.@SethPArchersa587812@ohio.edu

The Post

Bobcats soccer splits weekend matches

By Wynston Wilcox | Oct. 12, 2014

After a solid performance from Ohio on Friday, the Bobcats had a completely different game on Sunday. Ohio claimed three points this weekend after a win against Ball State (1-0) and a loss to rival Miami (2-0).

65 years of Bobcat pride

Couple shows 65 years of Bobcat pride

By Maygan Beeler | Oct. 10, 2014

A cane in one hand and yearbooks in front of him, Richard Weiser (full disclosure — he’s my neighbor) sat at his dining room table a couple weeks before his 90th birthday. Surrounded by large wooden carvings of exotic animals he crafted himself, Weiser flipped through the pages of his past — reflecting on campus life at Ohio University nearly 65 years after graduation. Weiser arrived on OU’s campus in 1946, following his tour of duty in the U.S. Air Force during World War II. During fall of 1946, 5,777 students were enrolled in Athens, shattering the previous record of 3,501, and illuminating the influx of servicemen arriving home from the war, according to the October 1946 edition of the Ohio Alumnus.Weiser — who calls coming to OU and meeting his wife a “wonderful experience” — has remained a loyal Bobcat all his life. After starting a successful construction company, Weiser has also donated thousands of dollars to OU. He and his wife Jo regularly make the trip from Canal Winchester, OH, to Athens, a distance of only 60 miles.They normally come down U.S. 33 for Homecoming, but cannot make the trip this year.While at OU, Weiser joined the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, lived in a private home, held a job washing dishes in a local hotel and met his wife. Since then, the fraternity has left campus, and the private home and hotel no longer exist. But his marriage remains strong.“Yeah, that’s the problem in an interview like this,” Weiser says of trying to describe buildings that have been gone many years. “We’re talking 60 years ago and so much has changed.”But apart from physical changes, campus life in the 1940s bears some resemblance to the college experience today. Weiser shares that his road to a Bachelors degree in architectural engineering wasn’t always smooth — a degree OU no longer offers.“One of our classes was surveying and slide rule. I had no trouble with either one of them, except I wouldn’t go to class, and you know, that sucker failed me!” He laughed, referencing his professor. “I said ‘my gosh, every time you had a test I got 100.’ (My professor) said ‘and every time you didn’t show up you got a 0.’”With a tough schedule and a social life to maintain, graduation sometimes seemed far off.“I got through school, not with flying colors, but I got through school,” Weiser admits. Later, he began a successful construction company, TC Weiser Construction, and became a renowned artist, with paintings and wooden carvings of animals among the works of art still being sold in central Ohio galleries.Outside the classroom, Weiser engaged in fraternity activities and attended dances “where the big bands were brought in for a one night stand.” As for his dance partner, Mr. Weiser met and fell in love with his Jo at OU; they’ve been married since the year he graduated. Together, they recounted some of their favorite extracurriculars.“We used to go out to Lake Hope for picnics, big bunches of us, a whole bunch of fraternity guys and their girls, and that used to be fun,” Jo recalls. “Lake Hope was a lake, but I don’t ever remember swimming there, do you?” she asked her husband.“No, but what I do remember is we bought beer by the keg and we’d unload them at the top of the hill and roll ‘em down toward the lake,” he laughs.Today, the Weisers work to maintain relationships with Ohio University and Bobcat alums.“We’ve tried to maintain associations with people that have been there, maybe not even at the same time we were,” Mr. Weiser explains.As Bobcats celebrate homecoming week, it is this sense of family that unites us all.The Weisers financially support The Richard C & Betty Jo Weiser Endowed Scholarship offered at OU’s Lancaster Campus. The scholarship is awarded alternately every other year to business and education majors demonstrating financial need.In addition, the Weisers have been awarded the title of “Bobcat Champions” for giving more than $25,000 to support the Walter Fieldhouse. The couple are members of the 1804 Alumni Group and the Bobcat Club.“It was worth every bit,” Weiser said. ““I think my parents got gray hair over some of the things, but it turned out, I met Jo and that has been a wonderful experience.”The Weisers currently reside in Canal Winchester, Ohio. Their most recent trip to Ohio University took place during homecoming week last year.@mayganbeelermb076912@ohio.edu

upport Us
Trending
The Post on
Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2016-2025 The Post, Athens OH