When Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine announced recently that it was investing another $31 million to build a new wellness center, it reinforced itself as one of the area's true success stories.

Who would have thought when this medical college was founded on West Grandview Boulevard back in the 1990s that it would become one of the nation's largest medical schools?

Who could have imagined the amount of jobs it has created? The number of doctors it has educated? The tens of millions of dollars in economic benefits it brings to our community each year?

I'd suspect that few people -- even its founders -- expected it to become this big.

Much has been made about the need to leverage Erie's manufacturuing history or its natural tourism draws to rebuild the local economy.

But LECOM -- like many of our other recent successes -- doesn't fall into either of these categories.

It is simply a well-designed institution that fills a need and fills it well.

A medical school in Erie?

Most of us were likely skeptical when the idea was introduced.

Now, look at the results.

And think about what we can learn from it.