Eastern Ohio Regional Industrial Park has been awarded a grant from the Ohio Department of Development that will bring water to the site in Barnesville, moving it one step closer to completion.
Gov. Ted Strickland made the announcement Friday. Fourteen commercial and industrial sites were awarded funds from the Job Ready Site Program. In total, about $29.9 million in grants were awarded. The industrial park will get $750,000 for waterline extensions to the 200 acre site.
"The Job Ready Site program is about taking locations that have been left behind and transforming them into work sites that are ready for business, new jobs and new opportunities for Ohioans," Strickland said. "These investments reinforce our message to companies across the nation considering expansion or relocation projects that there is no better place to build your business than Ohio and no better workforce to make your product than Ohioans."
Ohio Sen. Jason Wilson said he welcomed the announcement and hopes this will bring additional growth to the area.
"This is about the future. This is a step in the right direction and about diversifying our economy in Belmont County and Ohio," Wilson said. "We appreciate the governor and the department of development seeing the value and investment in East Ohio and we are going to make the best of it, but we need to work together as a team to achieve that success."
According to the governor's office, the Ohio Job Ready Site Program, authorized by Ohio's voters under Issue One in 2005, was created to bolster the state's inventory of available facility locations served by utility and transportation infrastructure. Sites that are improved under the Job Ready Site Program are kept ready for future business prospects seeking locations for new or expanded operations.
"We'll now have 200 acres with a road and water and this is just another one of the steps to get the industrial park ready to have employers move in," Belmont County Port Authority Director Larry Merry. "Enough can be said about the senator's (Wilson) involvement. Enough can't be said about the village of Barnesville and the people in this community. It's been a total team effort."
Ohio Rep. Joshua O'Farrell State Rep. also said he welcomed the news.
"This grant demonstrates the bold commitment made by Gov. Strickland to creating jobs and spurring the economic revitalization of our region of the state," said O'Farrell. "I look forward to continuing to work with statewide and local leaders to get our residents back to work and build a stronger, more sustainable Ohio.
Merry said the grant also requires a local match of $250,000.
"I think we've had a pretty good week . . . We announced a project in Bellaire on Tuesday that's a really great project," Merry said. "Then we received news (Friday) of this. I think the port authority and Belmont County has had an extremely good week."
On Tuesday, it was announced that Mountainer Products in Bellaire had been awarded a 45 percent job creation tax credit for a six-year term as a result of the company's expansion project. The value of the tax credit is estimated at $99,000 over the term, and the company would be required to maintain operations at the project site for nine years. Mountaineer Products is a transloader company moving steel coils of wire rod and coil rebar that is first shipped by barge, then by truck. This project includes the purchase of an adjacent piece of property, an investment in machinery and equipment, and site improvements to allow for increased transloading operations. The more than $3.8 million project is expected to create 73 jobs and retain two positions.
Other projects award the grants on Friday included:
D.O. Hall Business Center, located in the city of Cambridge (Guernsey County), has been awarded $750,000 from the Job Ready Site program to construct an access road that will open 121 acres of land for development, and extend water and sewer lines to the industrial site.
University of Dayton Research Institute and Innovation Center, located in the city of Dayton (Montgomery County), has been awarded $3.5 million from the Job Ready Site program to renovate 60,000 square feet of the Former NCR World Headquarters building. Within that facility, 16,000 square feet will be collaborative innovation space and 44,000 square feet will be undesignated research space.
Beck Industrial Commerce Park, located in the city of Louisville (Stark County), has been awarded $3.5 million from the Job Ready Site program to develop a 230-acre industrial site. Work to be completed at the project site includes construction of an access road and bridge as well as extensions of utilities and rail siding.
Canton Corrugated Paper Center, located in the city of Canton (Stark County), has been awarded $750,000 from the Job Ready Site program to assist in creating a pilot corrugating plant. The project involves building demolition to accommodate a 20,000 square foot building to support manufacturing, testing, and demonstration of the corrugated paper industry. This project will result in the creation of 50 jobs over a five-year period at the plant.
CASTLO Manufacturing Site, located in the city of Struthers (Mahoning County), has been awarded $3,491,000 from the Job Ready Site program to demolish a 312,000 square foot building to redevelop 66 acres within the CASTLO Industrial Park. Work to be completed at the site includes demolition of Building I, environmental remediation, and extension of roadway and utilities into the site.
MidTown Tech Park, located on Euclid Avenue in the city of Cleveland (Cuyahoga County), has been awarded $3.5 million from the Job Ready Site program to construction a technical research center. Work to be completed at the site includes land acquisition, site remediation, and constructing an 112,000 square foot building to attract biomedical related industries.
Ingenuity Center, located in Marietta Township (Washington County), has been awarded $750,000 from the Job Ready Site program to construct a building to assist in attracting companies in the temperature controlled cabinet industry specific to the research and medical fields. Work to be completed at the site includes acquiring 5 acres of land within the Seven North Commerce Park and constructing a pre-engineered 35,000 square foot building.
Iron Highway Industrial Park, located in the village of Leipsic (Putnam County), has been awarded $3.5 million from the Job Ready Site program to create a 244-acre industrial site served by three rail providers. Work to be completed at the site includes land acquisition, extension of water and gas lines, and installation of a rail switch.
MATC Technical and Research Complex, located in the city of Miamisburg (Montgomery County), has been awarded $1,217,000 from the Job Ready Site program and $2,283,000 from the Roadwork Development (629) program to construct a roadway for enhanced access to the 64-acre technical research park. Work to be completed at the Superfund site includes road and utility extensions, site remediation, improvements to the PerkinElmer building, and demolition of buildings for parking lot construction.
Miami Heritage Technology Park, located in the city of Oxford (Butler County), has been awarded $3.5 million from the Job Ready Site program to construct a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certified technical research center. Work to be completed at the site includes land acquisition, construction of a data center facility, road construction, and utility extensions.
Pickaway Progress Park, located along U.S. 23 in the city of Circleville (Pickaway County), has been awarded $3.5 million from the Job Ready Site program to redevelop a 226-acre site to accommodate 2.5 million square feet of industrial and manufacturing facilities and 400,000 square feet of mixed use facilities. Work to be completed at the former Thomson Consumer Electronics site includes constructing an access road and extending utilities through the park.
PrimeOhio II Corporate Park, located along Interstate 70 in the city of Springfield (Clark County), has been awarded $150,000 from the Job Ready Site program to extend road access and improve gas line capacity to the project site.
Prospect Industrial Park, located in the village of Navarre and Perry Township (Stark County), has been awarded $1.1 million from the Job Ready Site program and $2.4 million from the Roadwork Development (629) program to develop a 340-acre industrial site. The project site sits adjacent to the 26-acre intermodal Wheeling and Lake Erie rail yard. Work to be completed at the site includes road and utility extensions, construction of a bridge, site grading, and construction of a water tower.
Properties in this program are strategically evaluated and then awarded for their ability to provide optimal infrastructure capabilities and attract economy-shifting investment. Since its inception in 2005, the program has awarded approximately $135 million in grants, leveraging nearly $198 million in private investments. These funds are designed to offset costs associated with speculative development to accelerate and maximize property development potential.
