CLARINGTON — The Monroe County Port Authority now officially owns the Hannibal Industrial Park.

The authority closed on the acquisition from Hannibal Real Estate LLC on Monday.

The industrial park, located on Ohio 7 along the Ohio River, includes approximately 1.2 million square feet of building space situated on 122 acres of land.There already are 16 tenants at the industrial park.

Hannibal Real Estate acquired the site, which was formerly the rolling mill for Ormet Aluminum Corp., in 2007.

It has since developed the area into a multi-tenant industrial park campus.

The port authority will continue operating the site in this manner.

The Hannibal Industrial Park is a significant source of employment opportunities, not only for residents of Monroe County, but also for residents of surrounding counties in Ohio and West Virginia.

The county port authority was supported in this transaction by several partners, including Monroe County Commissioners Mick Schumacher, Bill Bolon and Diane Burkhart, Monroe County Treasurer Taylor Abbott, Citizens National Bank of Woodsfield, JobsOhio, OhioSE and Thompson Hine LLP, according to a press release on the acquisition.

Port authority Director Jason Hamman said he is excited to begin aggressively marketing the industrial park to attract additional business investment to Monroe County.

“With its strategic location, active rail service, access to the Ohio River and available industrial space, we’ll be working with our economic development partners to support the growth of existing tenants, as well as reaching out to companies in our target industry sectors,” he said.

Hamman sees this acquisition as an opportunity for Monroe County to “be in the driver’s seat” with respect to its economic development future.

“On behalf of the MCPA and its partners, I’d like to personally thank Mr. Jeffrey Himmel (CEO of Hannibal Real Estate) for extending the opportunity to the MCPA,” Hamman said.

For more information, contact Hamman at econdev@monroecountyohio.com or call 440-292-5326.