Renovation

A not-for-profit mental health organization with offices across Maryland plans to open a $3.3 million transitional housing facility in Hagerstown to help homeless veterans find employment and a permanent place to live. Mindy Morgan, program manager at Way Station Inc., said the 27-bed facility will open in late spring or early summer at the former Way Station building at 25 E. North Ave. “This facility is not a shelter,” she said of the Way Station Welcome Home Veterans project.

The newly renovated Mercersburg Elementary School earned an A-plus from students, teachers and parents on the first day of school Monday. “It made the first day way better,” said fifth-grader Syrus Maldonado, whose first word as he entered the building was, “wow!” The $7 million project upgraded all the mechanical systems at the school, placed the media center/library in the courtyard and revamped the building to accommodate relocating the central office from 118 E. Seminary St. in Mercersburg to the elementary school.

In the wake of the largest renovation in company history and the launch of a new television channel on Antietam Cable, The Herald-Mail Co. is swimming into uncharted waters under a new name. Since the addition of the TV station, HMTV6, the company has been rebranded as Herald-Mail Media, offering its traditional daily print and online products along with television news and weather. “I think it's a real exciting time in our industry, and specifically for our company,” Herald-Mail Media President Andy Bruns said.

Several Franklin County, Pa., schools look drastically different than they did when classes let out for the summer. In the Waynesboro Area School District, for instance, furniture is stacked up and ceiling tiles have been removed in several schools as the district tackles several large-scale projects. At Waynesboro Area Senior High School, a pair of classrooms are being renovated for alternative education students. Workers are finishing their efforts and preparing to put the ceiling in place.

Despite being nearly $200,000 short of its fundraising goal, The Salvation Army has started construction of a $1.8 million project in Hagerstown that includes new offices, a gymnasium and renovation of the organization's existing women's and children's shelter. Salvation Army Maj. Robert Lyle said Monday he was hopeful that donors would step up to contribute the rest of the money. “We do have a lot of folks in this community who are sympathetic to what we're doing,” Lyle said.

With new features such as a second floor and a black-box theater that also serves as a dance studio, the newly renovated Kepler Center was dedicated Friday at Hagerstown Community College. “This building is everything we could dream it could be,” said HCC student Satia Williamson ofWashington, D.C. “It is a combination of all the arts here on campus.” Williamson, 28, is majoring in psychology but attended HCC in 2006 as a theater major. Williamson said she spent time in the old building then and talked about how the improvements have enhanced the Kepler Center.

As the final touches are being put on the $3 million renovation and modernization of Potomac Edison's regional headquarters on Bower Avenue, a quarter of a million customers of its FirstEnergy Corp. subsidiary will see some changes in coming weeks. When FirstEnergy merged with Allegheny Energy in 2011, one of the changes involved subsidiaries taking on names familiar to customers in different regions, which was Potomac Edison in this area. “We have a new headquarters with state-of-the-art equipment that allows us to communicate, manage and work as a team,” said James V. Fakult, Potomac Edison's president of Maryland operations, during a tour of the facility earlier this month.

Battle of Funkstown planning meeting to be held Feb. 29 FUNKSTOWN - A planning meeting for July's Battle of Funkstown re-enactment will be held Feb. 29 at 6 p.m. at the Funkstown fire hall, Town Councilman John Phillips III said during a town council meeting Monday night. Phillips said he's been getting positive feedback from re-enactors interested in participating in the event, which will be held July 20-22, largely at Funkstown Community Park. With the 150th anniversary of the Civil War being commemorated, Phillips said he's thinking of expanding the event in 2013 to have a daily activity the week leading up to that year's re-enactment.

The city of Hagerstown and Washington County are considering commissioning a study on the economic benefits of a new or renovated baseball stadium in Hagerstown, Mayor Robert E. Bruchey II confirmed Friday. “This process that we're going through, and this economic impact study that we should be able to get created for like $20,000, will be able to tell us the feasibility of either renovation at the current site or a new stadium located somewhere else within the city,” Bruchey said.

Local leaders are responsible for area's decay To the editor: Nice column by Tim Rowland in Sunday's paper. Why all this discussion about a Suns stadium? If it's going to be a Suns stadium, let the Suns build it. What this area needs is a multi-use stadium/arena for baseball, outdoor concerts, etc. On the subject of the decay of downtown Hagerstown and Washington County, let's look at the facts and get a historical perspective. Local government has become stagnant, just as every other political entity has. The same old faces run and get elected every election, with the same old ideas and perspectives.