The Montgomery Advertiser from Montgomery, Alabama • Page E1

Prattville finally ran into something that can slow down its breakneck speed growth. The weather. The hope was to have a ribbon-cutting for the new $2.3 million Lemak Sports Medicine and Drayer Physical herapy building on April 1, but a rough patch of weather delayed the opening ntil May. The nearly finished building sits in an already bustling hub between Mellow Mushroom and Firestone, across from Home Depot. Not far away, construction workers logged through a muddy Tuesday putt ing up the structure for a square-foot Brewbaker Motors dealership that opens this fall.

That 14-acre site was one of the few big spaces still available along that stretch of Cobbs ord Road, an area that has become one hottest business targets. ow, developers are already lining up major projects in other areas of the city. A the intersection of Alabama 14 and Old Farm Lane, the city is laying the groundwork for Long-Lewis Auto new $6 million Ford It plans to open this year, boasting a quick oil change lane, rental vehicles, a tunnel car wash and even adeli. very nice-sized inv estments, all of said Amy Brabham, the economic evelopment director for the Prattville Area Chamber of Commerce. follow the arkets for disposable income and median household income, and pretty high for expect the development to stop with those few projects.

rabham pointed to the area near Long-Lewis, where road construction a nd access work may have paved the way for more new businesses. our primary growth territory, down that corridor to the medical off ice she said. are two or three other coming? Brabham said too early to talk details, but she said she knows lots of people in town have a wish list. She gets a sked all the time about big box stores like Club and Costco. I think eventually we would be able to draw something like that she said.

a matter of population and distance to their other There are more new businesses com- i ng to Cobbs Ford Road, too. Expect to ee some signs go up soon about additions to The Exchange shopping center, across from the Brewbaker dealership. At 586 Pinnacle Point, cons truction is underway on the ew Midtown Pizza Kitche n. a local restaurant branching out from Montgomery to Pratt- ille an increasingly AREA CONSTRUCTION Stores, restaurants, industr on the way Brad Harper on Twitter GETTY HANNON Developers are already lining up major projects in Prattville. MORE GROWTHMORE GROWTH AHEAD FOR PRATTVILLE Rick Harmon, Innovation Coach 261-1583 montgomeryadvertiser.com/business BUSINESS MONTGOMERYADVERTISER.COM 1E OPINION: budget crises all too real 4E still a Roosters Wings sign over the door to the new Cuisine Style Express, but the contradictions stop there.

Inside, the owners are serving up fare like fried rice, calamari and egg rolls alongside burgers, hot wings and philly cheeses- teaks. Want a drink with that? You can have soda, Thai ice tea or coconut uice. wner Sanh Ty Sivora- vong and her family took ver the 1172 S. Decatur St. location across from Ala- ama State University four weeks ago and are still exp anding the menu.

But she said a simple philos- phy behind the eclectic choices. some people want to eat Sivoravong aid. people just like Chinese food. So we make a ll of that. try to make everybody Meals are $6.95 including ries and a drink or an gg roll and a drink.

he restaurant is open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The phone number is 517-1357. Yoga studio i the works a different kind of yoga studio on the way in Wetumpka. New owner Vanessa Roge rs took over the spot at 102 Bridge St.

last week and as been hard at work renovating the space with plans to open Yoga4Him early this summer. he idea is a Christian- entered approach to without the eastern philosophical origins of the practice. Rogers said it will offer programs for all fitness levels and focus on Christ, prayers and blessings while building strength and flexibility on the mat. not going to be the Rogers said. You can follow the reno- ation on Face- book page.

Bridal showcase oming up Several locally owned business are putting on a ridal industry show May 30 in Pike Road. Dylan Rings is hosting Something Old, Something New restaurant serves urgers and Asian food BRAD HARPER RETAIL ROUNDUP Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has made a lot of headlines recently a bout expanding Social Secu- ity. Do you think this will become a campaign issue, and what would it mean for the economy? Expanding Social Security benefits will become a campaign issue for two simple reasons: older people tend to vote, and voters like politicians who are profligate with other money. Now that Sen.

Warren has opened the subject, expect a lot of debate, articularly in states with arge retirement populations. owever, once the elections a re over, and the dust settles, xpanding Social Security will be a dead end issue. With the vast numbers of Baby Boomers set to retire over the next decade, there simply nough money to go around ith payouts, let alone i ncreasing them. ou see, a lot of folks take ore out of Social Security han they put into it. It even close.

Assume you retired at the end of last year after 45 years of work. You made the average weekly wage in the country every year of your working life, and you always paid the correct percentage into the system. All told, you forked over around $54,000 of your hard earned money to Social Security, which would be about $95,000 when adjusted for inflation. Of course, your employer paid a like amount. urrently, the average onthly retirement check is 1,331.44.

Further, if you are a 6 5-year old male, the actuarial ables predict you will live for oughly another 18 years. If you are lucky enough to do so, you will collect a little under $288,000, assuming the monthly checks change one red cent. If, however, they grow, say, 2 percent per year, on average, you will take away over $340,000. Consider this, in your last year of work in 2014, you paid about $2,250 into Social Security. That is less than two months of the current average retirement check.

Hey, this is just math. But all the money go i nto some big trust fund and arn interest? Theoretically, es. However, the government pent the money on other hings as soon as it came in, a nd replaced it with a bunch of IOUs from the Treasury. In other words, it robbed Peter to pay Paul. We all know Washington tends to run pretty huge deficits, even in years when Social Security receipts are higher than outflows.

Unfortunately, according to the Congressional Budget Office, as of this year, they any longer. In any event, when your entire operation is in the red, does it really matter if one subsidiary is making money? Of course not. So, the money to expand ocial Security will have to ome from somewhere. But here? Well, one would sup- Slim chance ofSocial Security expansion JOHN NORRIS a lot of here and one We don mind that. Come one, come all.

AMY BRABHAM Economic development director for the Prattville Area Chamber of Commerce.