YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Gov. Mike DeWine and other state officials will announce today details about Youngstown landing an innovation hub that is expected to create hundreds of jobs in the aerospace and defense industries based in the city’s downtown.

DeWine’s office confirmed Wednesday that the Mahoning Valley landed the state’s fourth innovation hub from the $125 million Ohio Innovation Hub Program created last year in cooperation with the General Assembly.

The Youngstown Business Incubator has been awaiting word from the state on a $26 million funding request to create an innovation hub for aerospace and defense in the city’s downtown.

Barb Ewing, YBI’s CEO, said Wednesday that she couldn’t comment and would have nothing to say until after the 2 p.m. announcement today to be made at America Makes-National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute in downtown Youngstown.

State Sen. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, who will be on hand for today’s announcement, said, “It’s going to be some big news for the Valley and a great opportunity for the area. It’s going to be great for downtown Youngstown and the entire Lake-to-River region. It’s a massive opportunity for our region for innovation.”

Cutrona said the hub will generate “millions of dollars for the Valley with workforce development and manufacturing. It’s going to be a step in the right direction to move the Valley forward. We worked hard to secure these funds. It’s a testament to the region working together. It’s very exciting.”

Cutrona said while he was in the Ohio House he was a strong advocate for funding the hubs and it’s gratifying to see it come to the Valley as a state senator.

YBI wants to house the innovation hub at the former Youngstown Vindicator building on the corner of Vindicator Square and Front Street in the city’s downtown.

One of the conditions of getting the requested $26 million in state funding is a $4.3 million local match, Ewing said previously. YBI’s local match is $11 million, which includes a $1.35 million commitment from Youngstown paid in four installments over four years as well as several other funding sources from foundations and corporations.

Also, there is $43 million in federal funding for activities related to product development and commercialization to take the aerospace and defense products to market.

The initiative’s impact would be $191.7 million over the next four years with the creation of 271 new jobs, with average projected annual salaries of $81,806, as well as adding 481 indirect jobs, Ewing has said. Of the 271 new jobs, about 150 would be located in the former Vindicator building at 107 Vindicator Square, which is about 130,000-square feet in size. Without the state funding, leasing and redeveloping the building would be very difficult, Ewing said previously.

The old Vindicator closed more than five years ago with its name, subscription list and website purchased by the Tribune Chronicle, which continues to publish the newspaper.

The plan is to lease the downtown building and redevelop it before eventually purchasing it.

The plan would be to house expansions of JuggerBot 3D, a manufacturer of industrial 3D printers, and Ursa Major, a rocket propulsion company, at the building, Ewing said.

It would cost about $26 million to renovate the building with electrical upgrades being costly.

YBI purchased the original Vindicator building, across the street from the other location and renamed it Tech Block Building No. 5, in 2015 for $654,500. YBI owns five downtown buildings in total.

If the full $26 million request from the Mahoning Valley is honored, it would be smaller than the three other grants given to create innovation hubs.

The first grant of $31.3 million in state funding was awarded July 1 in the Toledo area to enhance northwest Ohio’s position as a leader in glass science, engineering, technology and production.

A $35 million state grant was announced Aug. 19 for Dayton for digital transformation technologies.

A $31.25 million award of state funding for the Akron region was announced Sept. 5 for polymer research, development and technology.

A statement from DeWine’s office said the innovation hubs “combine the talents of leading academic and research institutions, workforce and economic development partners, and private companies to gain a competitive advantage through collaboration.”

The most an innovation hub can receive is $35 million, which was given to Dayton. If Youngstown gets the full $26 million request, the innovation hub program would have only $1.45 million left.

In addition to DeWine and Cutrona, others scheduled to attend today’s announcement include Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel; Lydia Mihalik, Ohio Department of Development director; Alexander Steeb, America Makes senior operations director; Jim Fisher, vice president and COO of the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining; and Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown.