Seven Ranges owners pay to fill mall potholes
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STEUBENVILLE -- Visitors to the Fort Steuben Mall can once more drive in peace, now that the owners of Seven Ranges Entertainment have paid to have surrounding potholes filled.
Equipment and workers could be seen laying asphalt patch on the ring road surrounding the mall beginning at 10 a.m. Wednesday. A roller flattened the patch, leaving behind a much more driver-friendly road -- one that made rounds on social media recently due to its rampant potholes and the vehicle damage they inflicted.
Jim Davis Enterprises was contracted for the job by members of the Ferguson family, co-owners of Seven Ranges. The recently opened entertainment center, which occupies the space that had at one time been the location of Sears at the mall, offers more than 150 arcade games, ax throwing, miniature golf, virtual reality games, bowling and a sports bar and grill.
Ron Ferguson -- co-owner with his brother, parents and uncle -- said paying to have the potholes filled will provide drivers with a safer road and create easier access to mall businesses like Seven Ranges.
"Having lived here in the community all my life and my family being from here, we realized investing in your community is important, and we wanted to take initiative and not wait on the owners of the mall to fix the road for the community so they can come out here to our business and surrounding businesses."
Ron Ferguson, who also represents the area in the Ohio House of Representatives as a Republican, said Jim Davis, owner of Jim Davis Enterprises, gave his family a significant discount for the job, and he called Davis a "strong community member" who cares about the area.
The pothole filling effort was the idea of Bobby Ferguson, Ron's brother, who came up with the idea after seeing the online buzz around the mall's potholes.
On Friday, Seven Ranges' Facebook account promised to fix the mall potholes "that have been plaguing our roads for the past 10 years" if it received 12,000 followers for its page within three days. Ron Ferguson said that goal was met after only an hour, and the page had around 19,000 followers as of Wednesday.
Now entering its third week in business, Seven Ranges was able to reinvest some of its proceeds into the pothole project, Ron Feguson said, adding that previous weeks of business have been increasingly good, and he hopes this week is the best yet.
"My family is always in here, so we invite everybody to try and make it out this week," Ron Ferguson said. "Stop in, tell us what you think about the fixed potholes and, if you have any other suggestions, let us know about that as well."
Ray Cingolani, an employee of Jim Davis Enterprises, said it was good to have work done on the mall's roads because "Anything here is an improvement."
Additionally, Ron Ferguson said he "can't say enough great things" about those from Jim Davis Enterprises who did the actual work to fill the potholes.
Ron Ferguson also acknowledged Jake Kleineke, who he called a "pillar of our community." A local business owner and a Republican candidate for Jefferson County commissioner, Kleineke gave his time and resources to fill potholes in the mall's parking lot section without reimbursement.
Kleineke was joined by volunteer employees from Eastern Construction Services and Hidden Acres, businesses Kleineke owns with his wife. The businesses paid for asphalt patch to fill in the potholes and donated vehicles and other equipment to be used for the project, Kleineke said.
"We have people come from other areas to visit," Kleineke said, shovel in hand. "What do they see when they get their head banged off the top of their car getting in and out of here?
"We're glad to be able to help the community because this has been a problem for a while, and it doesn't seem like anybody wants to do anything about it. My hat goes off to the Ferguson family for kicking this off and to Jim Davis Enterprises."
Kleineke said having a feasible road and parking lot at the mall will be a "good representation and presentation of pride in our community," and he noted that passersby have already expressed much gratitude and have made positive comments about the repairs.