Bond issue for health science complex OK’d

by Katie Brandenburg, The Daily News, originally published on 6/9/2012

Warren County Fiscal Court approved the first reading Friday of an ordinance to issue industrial revenue bonds for the construction of a health science complex to house Western Kentucky University’s School of Nursing.

Fiscal Court also voted to approve the first reading of a budget of about $33.7 million for fiscal year 2013, as well as an agreement with Connected Nation to look into the best way to make high-speed Internet available at competitive rates to all Warren County residents.

The bond ordinance would allow for the issue of up to $48 million in industrial revenue bonds for the construction of a building adjacent to The Medical Center complex to house WKU’s School of Nursing and physical therapy program.

The hospital will be solely responsible for repaying the debt, according to Ron Sowell, executive vice president and chief financial officer for Commonwealth Health Corp. and The Medical Center.

The medical science complex is expected to cost a little more than $18 million, he said.

The bond issue will also allow for the refinancing of some corporation debt.

“This project is very exciting for us and for Western Kentucky University,” Sowell told members of the Fiscal Court.

The facility will allow WKU’s nursing program to double in size, he said. “It will benefit not only The Medical Center, but it will generate nurses of the future for all the health care facility in southcentral Kentucky,” Sowell said.

A groundbreaking for the facility will be at 9 a.m. Wednesday, he said. It is set to open in August 2013.

The complex wouldn’t have been possible without the formation of the Tax Increment Financing district, Warren County Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon said.

It will be a benefit for not only Warren County but the region in meeting the demands on the area’s health care system, he said.

“This is really a godsend to this region of Kentucky,” Buchanon said.

Fiscal Court also approved an agreement with Connected Nation to provide broadband mapping, a policy impact assessment and help with a digital literacy program for Warren County in an effort to determine how best to make high-speed Internet available to all residents at competitive rates, according to the contract.

The contract is for $26,790 over a six-month period.

The county expects a final report from the company by the end of that contract period, Buchanon said.

Brian Mefford, Connected Nation CEO, said Connected Nation is eager to move forward with the project in Warren County.

“People want to be able to live anywhere in Warren County and have access to high-speed broadband Internet,” he said.

The availability of high-speed Internet is increasingly important to people, and not having access can be a disadvantage, especially for school-age children, Buchanon said.

Many people rate it in importance along with services such as water and sewer, he said.

“It think this broadband high-speed Internet is almost a right,” Buchanon said. “It has almost become a right.”

One goal for the county is to create more competition in the county among high-speed Internet providers, Buchanon said.

Competition can translate into wider coverage, along with better service and more competitive prices for Warren County residents, he said.

Expanding access to high-speed Internet has been a priority in the county for about two years, Buchanon said.

“This is the kind of thing that sets us apart from other communities throughout Kentucky and throughout the nation,” he said.

Fiscal Court also approved the first reading of an ordinance approving the fiscal year 2013 budget.

Buchanon said spending in the upcoming fiscal year’s budget is on par with the previous budget.

The approximately $33.7 million budget includes about $17.7 million in general fund spending. The budget is about $410,700 more than last year’s approved budget, with about $386,800 more in general fund spending.

Copyright 2012 News Publishing LLC (Bowling Green, KY)

TIF district nearing key $150M status

by Robyn Minor, The Daily News, originally published on 6/2/2012

Even before ground is broken this month for two Bowling Green development projects, the investment in the Tax Increment Financing district is fast approaching its $150 million signature TIF status.

So far, $143.65 million has been spent on projects.

And as work progresses in the next two months on projects under construction such as Bowling Green Municipal Utilities’ new office building, the Warren County Downtown Economic Development Authority will ask the state to certify that signature TIF status, according to its chairman, Doug Gorman.

Nearly $30 million more in projects are under construction in the TIF now, which would count toward that certification. The TIF runs from Western Kentucky University to the river and is bounded in part by U.S. 31-W and Adams Street, but does not include Fountain Square.

When you consider the commercial project to be built on two sides of the parking garage and WKU’s School of Nursing, both of which will begin construction this month, the total will then amount to more than $200 million, according to TIF documents. Work has to be finished before it can count toward the status.

Clinton, Chris and Ed Mills are the private subdevelopers for the commercial project on the parking garage wrap, and Commonwealth Health Corp. will sell bonds for its building that will contain WKU’s School of Nursing.

The TIF actually has until December 2014 to reach the $150 million level. The significance of reaching that signature level is that the city and developers of many of the projects in the TIF then would start to receive a portion of the taxes created by the new jobs and sales made in the 49-block TIF area.

That money would be used to repay both groups for their work thus far.

Gorman said once the state certifies that signature status, it would calculate those payments. Any additional development in the district over the next 27 years will allow those tax returns to continue coming back to the TIF.

Some have been critical of the perceived lack of private funding that has gone into the project, something that rifles Gorman a bit.

“We had a man from Massachusetts spend $8 million of his own money to bring a baseball team here,” Gorman said. “This community has been blessed by Mr. (Art) Solomon.”

Having that baseball team here created 20 full-time jobs and 120 part-time jobs and has been the impetus for some of the development since, he said.

There has been private investment in medical facilities, residential housing, fraternity housing and other projects totaling more than $46 million that has already been spent, according to TIF documents.

More than $3 million in private funding is being spent to purchase and renovate the old Bowling Green Junior High School. While part of the property had an apartment building on it, the remainder had been a perpetual construction site with little work going on for years.

Since the purchase last fall, construction fences have come down but work has steadily progressed, with the lease-a-bedroom housing facility to be ready for WKU students in the fall.

One of the largest private projects was the nearly $24 million expansion and improvement of The Medical Center.

The Medical Center’s parent company, CHC, will add even more to the total of private funds invested when it breaks ground this month for a nursing building. The project is expected to cost $16 million to $18 million, with WKU’s lease of the space being primarily paid with tuition fees from the new students that an expanded program can serve.

WKU’s alumni also are funding the Augenstein Alumni Center, which is in the TIF and adjacent to WKU’s campus.

“The alumni association has raised $5 million for the project so far and would like to raise $1.5 million to $2 million more to pay for furnishings,” WKU President Gary Ransdell said. “That is all being paid for with private funding.”

The funds will be used to pay for the lease on the building, just as the WKU Student Life Foundation will pay for the lease on the housing wrap around the parking garage.

“Western won’t actually own any buildings in the TIF, but it is contributing to its development through lease payments,” Ransdell said.

The center is expected to be completed in late December with a move-in date of January.

Ransdell said on hold for now are WKU’s plans to build campus police offices and a bookstore on the other side of the parking garage that has the student housing on two sides of it now.

“We had wanted to use New Market Tax Credits for that, but Kentucky didn’t get enough ... allocated for us to use them,” Ransdell said. “So we are seeing if there are credits from somewhere else we can use.”

Ransdell said if the university can’t find the credits, it will look for other funding to at least build the campus police offices, something that is a priority.

Ransdell said he is still working with a single developer to build a hotel in the block next to campus and the alumni center.

“That talk had been quiet for a while ... but now the developer is back and engaged,” he said. “We are hopeful, anxious and optimistic. But we are going to be patient and work with this one developer.”

Has there been public money spent? “Yes,” Gorman said. “And now we are seeing private investment.”

Some of the public projects include parking garages, the ballpark and the Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center.

SKyPAC bonds are being repaid in part with a special motel tax, and other projects will be paid for when the TIF revenue comes back. The TIF revenue also would be used to pay off a portion of the SKyPAC debt.

More than $5 million in public funds was used to purchase land and improve infrastructure that includes more than $1 million to improve stormwater drainage in the area, Gorman said. There is a large underground drainage system that was installed under the parking garage, and a few months ago a retention basin was installed off Adams Street.

The city also received a Community Development Block Grant to improve drainage in the area, according to city public works Director Jeff Lashlee. That project, which cost about $126,000, was near the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce.

Since those projects were completed, the flooding that previously occurred at intersections on College and State streets’ lower blocks has mostly disappeared, Lashlee said.

People outside Bowling Green are starting to see the fruits of the labor here, Gorman said.

Outside companies have requested information about the commercial space that will be available on the ground floor of the wrap of the parking garage.

Both Gorman and Ransdell are excited that the signature status will be reached well ahead of the deadline.

“It’s a terrific tribute to the leaders across the community,” Ransdell said. “So many people have been important to its success.”

Copyright 2012 News Publishing LLC (Bowling Green, KY)

Nursing school could boost by-pass growth

by Robyn Minor, The Daily News, originally published on 5/18/2012

The look of Commonwealth Health Corp.’s proposed new building for WKU’s school of nursing should help spur development along that end of U.S. 31-W By-pass.

That was the opinion Thursday’s of the design review committee for the Tax Increment Financing District.

CHC’s new building will have a curved wall of windows facing the bypass to take in the northern sun exposure and the curve would mimic that of the bypass, according to architect Paul W. Edwards of Stengel-Hill Architecture in Louisville.

Commonwealth Health, the parent of The Medical Center, will own the building and will enter into a long-term lease with Western Kentucky University for about 80 percent of the building for classrooms, labs and office space. As for the 20 percent that The Medical Center will use, CHC Executive Vice President Jean Cherry said it will be used for training and meetings, some of which are spread across The Medical Center campus now.

The three-story, 77,163-square-foot building will use a combination of masonry, stone, aluminum and glass to complement the other buildings on the multiblock campus of The Medical Center.

Edwards said the building tries to incorporate as much light in the major public spaces such as break rooms and the lobby as possible, as well as lighting the ends of the hallways that lead to classrooms and offices.

On one side of the exterior, there is a pull-off spot for buses for the future possibility of public transit to the building.

Committee member Neal E. Downing, an associate professor of architecture at WKU, said he knows the university will be capable of expanding transit to the building with the recent purchase of three additional buses.

The project as a whole has the campus buzzing, Downing said.

Downing said historically that this end of the bypass had not been very aesthetically pleasing. The TIF ends on The Medical Center side of the bypass, but perhaps its appearance will encourage development on the other side, he said.

Over the years CHC has developed its side of the bypass piecemeal as it could purchase dilapidated properties and tear them down, according to Cherry.

“This gives us a chance to dress it up (further) and put a beautiful facade on the campus, rather than looking at the back of a building,” Cherry said. “I think that this certainly would encourage development on the other side of the street.”

Edwards said the building also will have a green belt on the bypass side, incorporating many of the same plants that already are used throughout The Medical Center campus.

The design review committee was pleased with the plan, only making two minor suggestions.

Member Elinor Markle suggested that the architect consider removing a few parking spots adjacent to the building and instead extend the greenspace to the building’s entrance.

Markle said it would better connect the building to the outdoors.

Member Eileen Starr suggested some sort of architectural element be added to a blank brick wall that people will see as they exit buses.

Cherry said they would try to incorporate the suggestions.

The City-County Planning Commission of Warren County also on Thursday approved the detailed development plan for the nearly four acres needed for the project. The commission also approved a variance of the required property line setback for construction.

The review committee also heard some preliminary plans for Block 7 in the TIF where the new Dollar General Store will be located.

“This is a very challenging site,” local landscape architect Brian Shirley told the committee.

The site is bounded by Seventh and Sixth avenues and Center Street.

In addition to being triangular shaped, it has multiple utilities that can’t be moved without great expense – about $150,000, he said.

Shirley and architects Nick and Matt Sewell gave the committee some preliminary drawings for the site that will be developed in two phases. The first is a 9,100-square-foot Dollar General. The second would be a two-story 6,000-square-foot building that doesn’t yet have a tenant.

Starr asked why there are two separate buildings.

Shirley said that is pretty much being dictated by Dollar General. The building is pushing the boundaries of what most Dollar General’s look like. It has a two-story appearance that is much dressier than most, primarily because of design standards within the TIF.

Downing and other members on the committee said the plan as it stands doesn’t really follow the standards set out for that block that is a gateway into the TIF. It should engage pedestrian traffic in the area as well as signal the entrance into the TIF.

“You are headed in the right direction,” Downing said.

But the plan has a ways to go before it will pass muster.

Shirley said they already were on revision 24 to the plan but will make further changes.

Copyright 2012 News Publishing LLC (Bowling Green, KY)

Hospitals working to prevent readmission

by the Daily News, The Daily News, originally published on 5/16/2012

Six area hospitals are among 100 Kentucky hospitals joining the Kentucky Hospital Association to improve patient care and reduce health care costs in the state.

The hospitals’ goals include reducing preventable readmissions and hospital-acquired conditions.

Included in the program are Greenview Regional Hospital, The Medical Centers in Bowling Green, Scottsville and Franklin, T.J. Samson Community Hospital in Glasgow and Caverna Memorial Hospital.

The program will help hospitals identify ways to improve patient safety and share learning among hospitals across the state. The goal for this two-year project is to reduce preventable hospital readmissions that occur within 30 days of discharge by 20 percent and hospital-acquired conditions by 40 percent (compared to 2010) by the end of 2013.

Copyright 2012 News Publishing LLC (Bowling Green, KY)

Generations gather for tea: Mother-daughter event at The Medical Center draws more than 90

by Robyn Minor, The Daily News, originally published on 5/13/2012

After an absence of nearly 30 years, Norma Hoehler is returning home to Bowling Green and spent Saturday celebrating the fact with parts of three other generations of her family.

Hoehler was at The Medical Center Women’s Center Mother-Daughter Tea with family, as were many of the other women and young ladies. More than 90 turned out for the annual event, which has been going on for about two decades.

“I just received the most wonderful Mother’s Day present,” Hoehler exclaimed. “I’m moving back to Bowling Green and they landscaped my patio for me.”

Hoehler is moving to Bowling Green Retirement Village, where her daughter, Vickie Jennett, is executive director.

“I’ve got a lot of catching up to do,” Hoehler said.

So Saturday’s event was a good time to start, at least with her daughter, her daughter’s daughter, Angie Wilk, and her daughter’s granddaughter, Morgan Wilk, all from Portland, Tenn.

The event turned out to be multigenerational for many families.

Guyla Wilson of Bowling Green was there with three other generations of her family from Bowling Green, 12 in all.

Wilson said she’s been coming so many times to the tea that she has lost track.

Her daughter, Carolyn Lindsey, said they missed the last few years and are happy to be back.

Lindsey’s granddaughter, Stephanie Riley, shares her love of tea, so the two were eager to drink the sweet concoction poured from one of the teapots on the table.

The pots were part of the collection of Linda Rush, director of community wellness for The Medical Center.

“I think I have 20 or 25 teapots,” she said. “You know once someone finds out you collect something, they tend to give that to you.”

But that doesn’t bother Rush.

“I love them,” she said.

While she no longer adds to her own collection, to satisfy her teapot craving, Rush buys them for others as gifts.

Three-year-old Emma Trinh eagerly ate one of the cupcakes prepared by Sweet Treats.

Hoehler and her daughter purchased the two books for sale by author Virginia Davis of Hart County.

Davis gave a brief talk about how her imagination as a child and voracious appetite for reading got her interested in writing. She now has two children’s books for sale, “The Flowers on Apple Hill” and “Irises’ Secret,” at virginiadavisbooks.com.

Copyright 2012 News Publishing LLC (Bowling Green, KY)

WKU nursing program looking at expansion

by Robyn Minor, The Daily News, originally published on 5/13/2012

Western Kentucky University’s School of Nursing is about to get a big boost with a proposed expansion of Commonwealth Health Corp.’s campus.

Commonwealth Health is proposing to construct a 77,163-square-foot building adjacent to The Medical Center complex that would be used mostly for WKU’s School of Nursing. The project is in the Tax Increment Financing district, an area that starts at WKU’s main campus, extends downtown to the new Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center and over to U.S. 31-W By-Pass, and includes the large Medical Center campus.

“This takes quite a commitment both on the part of The Medical Center because it will own the building and on the part of WKU because we will have a long-term lease of the space,” WKU President Gary Ransdell said. “Western will have access to a new academic building, and we will be able to double the number of nursing students, which is huge for health all across Kentucky.”

Ransdell expects that graduates of the program will find employment not only at both of Bowling Green’s hospitals but in Glasgow, Caverna, Owensboro, Elizabethtown, Hopkinsville and elsewhere.

WKU would lease 80 percent of the building and move all of its nursing program and the new doctors of physical therapy and practical nursing programs to the building. The space also would contain faculty offices and the necessary lab space, Ransdell said.

It’s not clear what CHC or The Medical Center would do with the remainder of the building. CHC staff members familiar with the project were out of town and could not be reached for comment.

Ransdell said details of how many new faculty members would be required for the enlarged program are still being worked out.

WKU’s first classes in the new building are expected to begin in fall 2013, so bids for the project are expected to be sought soon.

The design of the project will be up for review Thursday by the TIF Design Review Committee, and then later that evening the City-County Planning Commission of Warren County will consider the detailed development plan for the nearly four acres needed for the project. A variance of the required property line setback for construction will also be sought.

Planning staff approved both a preliminary drainage and landscape plan and determined that a traffic impact study is not required for the project. The new building would have 189 parking spaces, while just 111 are required.

The project, which has been two years in the planning stage, is ready to move forward because it is apparent that the TIF district will meet its $150 million investment requirement, Ransdell said. That means new tax revenues in the district can be used to pay for the infrastructure development of projects.

Sixty percent of the new tax revenue generated by The Medical Center and as a result of Western’s move to the area between U.S. 31-W By-Pass, Chestnut, Park and High streets and First Avenue will be used to help pay for this particular project, Ransdell said.

Western will pay an annual lease on the space – an amount that won’t be determined until construction bids are made – using the anticipated increase in tuition the university will receive, Ransdell said. That money in turn also will be used to pay off construction debt.

The move will allow Western to grow the number of baccalaureate-seeking nurses from 80 to 160, Ransdell said.

“We are (constantly) turning away qualified applicants because we just don’t have the room now,” said Robbin Taylor, WKU vice president for public affairs.

When the program is moved out of the Academic Complex, Taylor said there will be other programs eager to take over the space on the crowded main campus.

Doug Gorman, chairman of the Warren County Downtown Economic Development Authority, is pleased the project is coming to fruition.

“It is a culmination of the benefits and the hard work that has gone into the TIF that are making it possible,” Gorman said.

Gorman said it’s great for the community because the project involves the partnership of two of its largest employers – CHC and WKU.

“And it’s very exciting for the future of health care in our area,” he said.

Copyright 2012 News Publishing LLC (Bowling Green, KY)

The Medical Center to honor nurses, mothers

by Alyssa Harvey, The Daily News, originally published on 5/5/2012

The Medical Center will celebrate nurses and mothers May 12 with the first Nurse Walk and the annual Mother-Daughter Tea.

The Nurse Walk will begin at 9 a.m. on The Medical Center Emergency Department lawn.

“The walk will be a mile and a half. We’re walking around the building,” said Jodi Hanna, a registered nurse and surgical services educator at the hospital. “There is not a registration fee. Our nurse of the year (who has not been revealed) will say a few words.”

The event is in celebration of National Nurses Week, which is Sunday through May 12, Hanna said.

“We wanted to promote wellness in the community and get the community involved,” she said. “Everybody’s lives have been changed or impacted by a nurse at one time or another. We wanted to bring attention to what we do.”

The walk will be casual, Hanna said. “We’re hoping to do it as an annual event and would love people to come out and join us,” she said.

The Mother-Daughter Tea will be at 3 p.m. at The Medical Center Auditorium. Cost is $8 per person. Preregistration is required.

“We have got 15 to 20 spaces left,” said Linda Rush, director of community wellness for the hospital. “The Medical Center has had this event for more than 20 years. We do it the Saturday of Mother’s Day weekend.”

The Mother-Daughter Tea isn’t just for mothers and daughters, Rush said.

“It’s for women and girls of all ages. You can come with your mother or daughter, neighbor or aunt,” she said. “We just encourage women to come and enjoy that afternoon together.”

Hart County author Virginia Davis and illustrator Jane Ward Kehrt of Glasgow will talk about their children’s book, “The Irises’ Secret,” during the tea. The book tells the story of a girl who hides a tea set in an iris patch and the little girl who finds it some time later.

“They will have copies of the book and do a signing,” Rush said.

Girls will have the opportunity to have cupcakes decorated especially for them by 11-year-old St. Joseph School students Madison Feria and Kate Lawless, who operate Sweet Treats Bakery.

— For more information about the Nurse Walk, call 796-3380. For more information or to preregister for the Mother-Daughter Tea, call 745-1010 or 800-624-2318.

Copyright 2012 News Publishing LLC (Bowling Green, KY)