Midway through the first decade of the new millennium, Butler County is experiencing an economic renaissance, punctuated across the region with large and small construction projects. The 2015 Progress Edition included with today’s Butler Eagle provides a 48-page snapshot of this ongoing rebirth, along with explanations of what all the changes mean for the future of the region we call home.

The special section features an update on the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, the $70 million, 185,000 square-foot future training center for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Its two full ice hockey rinks, medical staff, retail shops and other services are designed to attract a half-million or more visitors a year — including world-class professional hockey players, coaches, trainers and their families. Some of them will make permanent homes here.

Other construction projects include a $20 million, 48,000 square-foot medical office building at the Butler Health System East Campus in Summit Township, slated to open in the fall. Butler Health System says the additional space is needed to accommodate continued growth.

That’s the same explanation offered at Iron Mountain, the underground data storage behemoth in Boyers, for its $200 million expansion. The data storage industry — particularly computer data storage — is growing at a rate of 15 percent annually.

The county’s academic community is undergoing its own rebirth, driven by a steady decrease in enrollment. In the Butler School District, there is widespread agreement that there are too many school buildings; however, questions remain over how to consolidate schools, and what can be done with buildings no longer needed for education.

Midway through its first year, Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School in Cranberry Township is poised to expand its 290-student enrollment to 400 next year and its eight athletic programs to 20. And across the county in Freeport, a $33 million middle school building is being completed while a new football field is in the works.

In downtown Butler, masons are bricking up the facades of the $12 millin county government center annex. The annex will provide space for Children and Youth Services and other growing government service agencies.

Ground will be broken soon for the Marriott Springhill Suites hotel and convention center, along with a tiered parking garage. Together with a Rite Aid pharmacy that opened in December, the hotel and parking garage comprise the Centre City project.

Nearby in Center Township, plans are advancing for a new VA medical center.

And the special edition would not be complete without a review of the ongoing story of the marcellus shale gas industry — and the efforts of an enduring local effort to oppose it.

These and other stories featured in the Progress edition point to a vibrant business climate. The reports reflect millions of dollars in capital investment by visionaries intent on maintaining and improving that climate in the years and decades to come. The special edition is intended to capture and convey the vision for our readers, along with the pride we all take in calling Butler County our home.