By Don Owen
NKyTribune reporter
A bit of good fortune has delivered Newport a new business tenant at the building that once housed Multi-Craft, a graphic communications company that did its printing at the Sixth and Saratoga Street location.
“Multi-Craft was sold a few months ago, bought by another company, but the new owner was not locating in Newport,” said Thomas Fromme, Newport’s city manager, following Monday night’s board of commissioners meeting. “Fortunately, one of our employees, his fiancée worked at Western & Southern Life. They were looking for a place to relocate their own print shop.
“The buildings that housed Multi-Craft were available and is a good fit. It’s worked out really nice.”
Multi-Craft was sold to Graphic Village in Blue Ash in February. Multi-Craft, a family-owned business for more than 62 years, employed 53 employees at its Newport location. Western & Southern’s print shop also figures to employ around 50 workers at the Saratoga Street facility when the transaction is completed.
In other items Monday night:
–Fromme said TMS Construction will be working in the 900 block of Monmouth Street with the stamped concrete pavement project. “It’s the same company that did the 1000 block of Monmouth,” he said.
“Due to the cost of the stamped concrete, we could only do one block at a time. TMS Construction does a great job. We’re really pleased with their work.”
Fromme added that there would be minimal disruptions caused by the work.
“At most, it will probably take two weeks,” he said. “We tried pavers, but they didn’t last. The stamped concrete is a better alternative and we’re very happy about it.”
–Work on the Newport SkyWheel project could begin sometime this fall, Fromme said.
“We should be voting next month. I’m pretty confident we have everything in place for them to begin work,” he added.
After construction begins, the expected timeline for completion is six to nine months. The Newport SkyWheel will stand more than 230-feet tall with 30 climate-controlled gondolas. It will be mounted on a pier extending out toward the Ohio River.
–Newport Police Officers Greg Roller and Adam Moeves were recognized for their outstanding contributions to the city. Roller, who is retiring from the force, was honored for his years of service. Moeves was honored for helping to rescue a child — who had food lodged in the windpipe — by using CPR on May 3.
