On a given Saturday night, some Ohio University students might head from apartments in Palmer Place to pregame above Subway, later moving on to the newly reopened J Bar before ending their nights in Courtside Pizza.
They might not know that they are spending their entire nights on the property of the Cornwell family, whose first ancestor reached the banks of the Hocking in 1831. Since then — except for a brief period from 1852 to 1856 when an ancestor was lured west by the promise of gold — the Cornwells have shaped Uptown Athens.
While the Cornwells have done most of their dealings on Court Street, local developer Brent Hayes has slowly accumulated land throughout the county, sometimes coming under harsh criticism. Hayes’ first ancestor came to Athens in 1877, settling a dairy farm near Guysville that is still in the family today.
Not everyone who molds Athens has such a lengthy local lineage, though. Kathy Hecht, who serves as the city’s auditor, recently became the chair of the county’s Democratic party. Hecht has been an Athenian for 32 years, holding several pro bono positions before working as a librarian at West Elementary and eventually entering the political arena.
Becky Watts, chief of staff to OU President Roderick McDavis, is a comparative newcomer, coming to Athens four years ago — just like the current crop of seniors. In that time, Watts has served not only as the chief liaison between the president’s office and the OU community but also as chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the Athens Area Chamber of Commerce, a position she received earlier this year.
Watts, Hecht, Hayes and the Cornwells occasionally overlap in terms of their interests, but they are all clearly multitaskers and they all show how they care about Athens in myriad ways.
KATHY HECHT
Although a trailblazer in one sense, Kathy Hecht also knows when to pay attention to her predecessors.
When elected as Athens city auditor in 2004, Hecht became the first Democrat to hold the position. Hecht had served two years as the 1st Ward representative on Athens City Council.
In early January, Hecht moved up to county politics, replacing Bill Bias as chair of the Athens County Democratic Party.
Thus far, Hecht said, balancing her responsibilities with the Democratic Party and as an elected official has been tricky.
“It’s a lot more work than I realized,” Hecht said. “I don’t know how long I’ll last. It’s exciting.”
Hecht’s coworkers in the auditor’s office, however, said that, although her schedule might be a bit tighter, taking on the second position has had little bearing on her day-to-day work.
“It really doesn’t have any effect on our office at all,” said Ray Hazlett, Athens’ deputy auditor.
Hazlett added that Hecht’s greatest skills as a leader are her empathy and openness to positive change, exemplified by her willingness to switch the city to the newest version of accounting software.
While Hecht instituted changes in the auditor’s office, as the Democratic Party chair, she wants to follow in the footsteps of her two predecessors, Bias and Susan Gwinn.
“Susan was really dedicated. I think it would be harder to find anyone who cared more than Susan about having Democrats in office and who would work as hard as she did,” Hecht said. “Bill, I thought, did an excellent job. He was experienced and he was approachable.”
Before Gwinn’s 14-year stint as chair, Hecht added, the Democratic Party in Athens failed to mobilize as efficiently as it could. By actively recruiting people to run, though, Gwinn managed to supplant Republicans in several elected positions throughout the county, coloring Athens a deeper shade of blue.
Referring to this year’s primaries — which include one county commissioner’s race with three candidates and another with six — Hecht said, “I think we’ve got some good momentum. We’ve got all these people running. That’s a wonderful thing.”
BRENT HAYES
Brent Hayes might be the closest thing Athens County has to a tycoon, and he has the Wall Street Journal article to prove it.
On Sept. 4, 2010, the local developer was featured in a story about alternative investment titled “Thinking Outside the Stocks” because of his recent purchases of abandoned-railroad property.
By using the crushed rock underneath the ties in his construction business and selling excess land after making improvements to it, Hayes earned part of his more than $17 million fortune.
“I like to look for land that needs improving or could be improved — land that’s maybe not ready to develop but needs work so it can be. That’s attractive to us because we have the means to do that,” said Hayes, who owns York Paving, a construction and excavation business, and Southeastern Ohio Management Company, which operates The Market on State and State Side Technology Park.
Hayes owns 24,892 — or just less than 8 percent— of Athens County’s 324,352 acres.
Tom Parfitt, a certified public accountant who is Hayes’ partner in the Southeastern Ohio Management Company, said he and the developer have a healthy working relationship.
“We have the same vision,” Parfitt said. “So we’re able to accomplish what we’re hoping to do, which is to help the local economy and hopefully make a little bit of money at the same time.”
When Hayes bought a parcel of land near Wal-Mart and promptly cleared all the trees and underbrush from a portion of it, he came under fire from critics who believed that he was making his “little bit” of money at the expense of aesthetics and the environment.
“It was a very miserable site,” Hayes said. “And there was some change that was made there that was very noticeable. … We’ll create some sites there to build.”
Hayes added that only 15 of about 65 acres on the Wal-Mart site were cleared for development and that it was unlikely the rest of the land would be touched.
“I like bricks and mortar buildings, and I also just like raw land,” Hayes said. “We have a considerable amount of just raw farmland and woodland. I’m just attracted to real estate — I just like it.”
THE CORNWELLS
If yesterday is a predictor of tomorrow, the future of Court Street real estate can be found playing on a laptop in a space adjacent to the Cornwell Jewelers’ showroom after the school day ends.
Ava and Hayden, the daughters of Cornwell Jewelers owner Kris Cornwell, are following in the family footsteps by spending much of their free time on Court Street — a habit that, for this clan, has inevitably resulted in owning an Uptown business.
“Our family has basically always revolved in some way around Athens and Court Street,” said David Cornwell, the current owner of Courtside Pizza and Kris’ brother. “I grew up running up and down Court Street when I was a little kid with my grandfather, and before that was the same thing.”
The Cornwell family owns five properties in Athens — Courtside Pizza and Apartments, Palmer Place, Cornwell Jewelers, The J Bar, and the apartments above Subway.
Until 2002, when Cornwell Jewelers moved from its location at 10 N. Court St., where Big Mama’s is now, it was the oldest family-owned jeweler still in its original location in the entire country.
For the members of the Cornwell family, however, there is always a way to improve on their current situation.
Kris said her father Les is a tinkerer who gets bored easily and pursues new opportunities.
One of Les Cornwell’s pursuits is a litter control initiative on Court Street, which he started about two years ago. As part of the program, Cornwell asks his own employees who have downtime to help clear the gum and trash from Athens’ sidewalks.
The idea of never getting complacent seems to have passed from Les to his children.
Anne Cornwell, the only one of the three to ever leave Athens for an extended period of time, is a certified public accountant who is known among family members for poring over ledgers and pointing out mistakes that might have slipped through otherwise.
David, meanwhile, has added to his holdings, taking over The Junction and reopening it as The J Bar at the end of 2011, making major structural changes to the facility.
“The family motto is location,” David said. “I like that location. I’d said for several years, if there was a spot that appealed to me of anything on Court Street, I like that location."
As with other Cornwell properties, the family has taken measures with The J Bar to ensure that it fits in with the rest of the street. Keeping nothing but the three exterior walls from the original structure, David gutted and rebuilt the property.
It is efforts such as those that have drawn praise from local residents such as Athens Chamber of Commerce President Wendy Jakmas.
“The Cornwell family has done an outstanding job of maintaining Athens’ character,” Jakmas said in an email. “They are and always have been unselfish community sponsors, supporters and philanthropists.”
BECKY WATTS
Becky Watts has two jobs in Athens, but the Ohio University administrator needs only one skill set.
As OU President Roderick McDavis’ chief of staff, Watts earns $124,962, but she also chairs the Board of Directors of the Athens Chamber of Commerce — a volunteer position.
The chief of staff and chairwoman positions require similar sets of skills, Watts said, including communication, collaboration, partnership and information sharing.
As chief of staff, Watts said she performs a variety of roles, responding to emails from an array of people, analyzing research and reports, facilitating communication, and handling budget responsibilities for the president’s office.
Part of the job’s requirements is to always be in touch with McDavis, figuring out what the president’s stance on a given scenario is and ensuring that his directives are carried out.
“I am constantly in communication with him, seeking his guidance and direction on follow-up to particular issues, and I am gathering information for him all the time,” Watts said. “After he provides the direction, I make sure that his direction is basically fulfilled.”
McDavis added that he and Watts have a positive, cordial working relationship and that she is “invaluable” to his office.
“I think the world of Becky as a colleague,” McDavis said. “I think she’s doing a great job as a chief of staff, and I think she’s doing a great job of representing OU in the community.”
It is not only in an official capacity that McDavis asks Watts to serve, though; he also requests that senior staff be active in the community.
“One of the things about this position is I can’t always serve on every body, either in town or nationally or even at a state level,” McDavis said. “So I ask my chief of staff to represent the university in that capacity.”
Until 2007, Alan Geiger, her predecessor as McDavis’ chief of staff, served on the Chamber of Commerce board, and when Watts arrived in 2008, she quickly took Geiger’s place.
The Chamber of Commerce also finds having a university representative on the board useful, said Wendy Jakmas, president of the chamber, who described Watts as one of the best communicators she’s ever encountered.
“It’s invaluable because (having a representative on the board) provides an ear for both the business community and the university,” Jakmas said. “The businesses rely upon faculty, staff and students to patronize their establishments, which in turn creates and sustains jobs, puts money in the tax base and ensures that our area remains vibrant and unique.”
aw927004@ohiou.edu
