By Casey S. Elliott, Urbana Daily Citizen
[email protected] Navistar is seeking a tax abatement to create a new facility on Phoenix Drive which will consolidate operations and bring in new jobs. On Tuesday, Navistar Inc. and Damewood Enterprises filed a Community Reinvestment Act tax abatement request for a new warehousing facility at 915 Phoenix Drive. The abatement would need to be approved by both Urbana City Council and Urbana City Schools for it to move forward. The application asks for a 100 percent, 10-year tax abatement for 24 acres on the property, currently classified for agricultural use. The land is currently owned by Damewood Enterprises Limited. Navistar will lease operations on the property out of a new 355,522 square f! oot warehouse facility on the site. The new facility will allow Navistar to consolidate existing operations in Urbana and Xenia as part of a joint venture with General Motors, according to the tax abatement application. The new facility is estimated to cost $12 million to build and will house $16 million in inventory. An estimated 114 employees will be moved from Navistar’s existing Edgewood Avenue facility in Urbana to the new site. Approximately 27 employees will be moved from the Bellbrook Avenue, Xenia, Ohio, facility, and an estimated 39 full-time employees are predicted to be hired for the new warehouse, according to the application. Current estimated payroll at the Urbana site is $4.954 million; current payroll for the jobs moving to Urbana from Bellbrook is estimated at $1.263 million; and the company anticipates the new employees will have $572,000 in payroll; for a total of $6.789 million in payroll at the new site, according to the application. Champaign County Economic Development Director Marcia Bailey told the Urbana school board Tuesday the company is looking at other sites for this new facility, so she is hopeful the city and school board will approve the abatement to bring new construction and jobs to Champaign County. Bailey also brought the abatement request to city council for their consideration Tuesday night. "This is an opportunity for our growth, and not lose this to another community," Bailey told the school board. Urbana Schools Superintendent Charles Thiel said he thinks this might be good for the commun! ity and the schools. "In my mind, it makes sense," he said. City Council is expected to vote on the abatement at its Feb. 21, 2017 meeting. Thiel said the school board will discuss, and potentially take action on, the abatement at its January meeting. If approved, the project is estimated to begin construction in March 2017 and be completed in December 2017. Casey S. Elliott may be reached at 937-652-1331 ext. 1772 or on Twitter @UDCElliott.
The Champaign Economic Partnership website, launched about a year ago, will be updated early next year with more resources to help businesses locate and expand in Champaign County, said CEP Director Marcia Bailey. The CEP was designated Champaign County’s economic development agency in July 2015.
The CEP website, CEPOhio.com, will expand listings of available commercial land and buildings, information on economic development incentives and the CEP’s “playbook,” which is currently in development. The playbook, expected to be completed early next year, will serve business developers as a resource guide through the process of beginning or expanding a business in Champaign County. The playbook will include information about the local and state resources critical to business success as well as contact information for these resources. “As the economic development agency serving all of Champaign County, the CEP serves as the starting point for local business development,” Bailey said. “We will offer businesses our economic development playbook as an easy-to-use resource to help smooth the planning process and prevent missing any key steps along the way.” CEP newsletter published More details about the CEP playbook and other economic development news can be found in the CEP’s recently published fall newsletter, CEP Developments, the third quarterly edition of the publication, which launched in spring 2016. The newsletter can be accessed on the “news” tab of CEPOhio.com, and. visitors can subscribe to receive the newsletter by email. Among other news covered in the latest edition: New local businesses; Manufacturing Day activities coordinated by the CEP and local manufacturers and schools to present high school students career opportunities in manufacturing; the CEP’s and local manufacturers’ display at the Champaign County Fair; and the Inventors Camp at the Champaign Family YMCA, where local manufacturers provided campers a taste of manufacturing. Manufacturing careers have been a key focus of the CEP, as manufacturers locally and across the country are having difficulty filling skilled job openings. Several workforce training initiatives have resulted from CEP’s partnership with manufacturers and local schools: Ohio Hi-Point Career Center’s advanced manufacturing program at Triad Local Schools and other Hi-Point satellite programs at Champaign County schools New manufacturing and engineering programs at Clark State Community College Urbana University looking at new workforce training opportunities Development of training to help the existing workforce update skills to remain competitive Job shadowing, internships and factory tours to expose local students to manufacturing careers “Workforce initiatives like these are vital to current employers and will help us attract new businesses to Champaign County,” Bailey said. “Businesses are more likely to move to communities with a well-trained workforce.” Ohio economic development newsletter Champaign County and the CEP received prominent coverage in the November edition of the Ohio Economic Development Association’s Dateline newsletter. The article featured the continuing growth of the county’s largest employer, KTH Parts Industries, and the CEP’s role in helping KTH gain approval of a Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) application. The CRA agreement grants KTH a 50 percent, 15-year real estate tax exemption on the company’s latest construction project, a 128,950-square-foot expansion expected to cost $6.7 million. As part of the agreement, KTH also pledges to add 20 new full-time jobs. The company has experienced massive growth since opening in 1985. KTH started with 195 full-time associates in a 239,122-square-foot facility and now employs 914 full-time permanent and 223 temporary associates, who make automobile subassemblies in a 1,110,448-square-foot complex.
![]() by Dr. Rick Smith, Superintendent of the Ohio Hi-Point Career Center Since being at Ohio Hi-Point Career Center as the superintendent, we have developed a plan to help move this school in the direction of the future with a new five-year plan that will benefit our students as well as the community. Moving forward into this five-year plan includes many changes and moving parts to make it all come together. One of the larger changes includes building a new pathway program available to students in the coming years. This new program will set Ohio Hi-Point Career Center as the frontrunner in smart technologies, and the students will be the leaders in this new technology-driven industry. There has been a huge amount of support throughout the region and the Ohio Department of Education, The Ohio State University, Clark State Community College, Honda Transmission Manufacturing of America, Inc., Honda of America Mfg., Inc., ADA Technologies, Inc., Sarica Manufacturing, Transportation Research Center, John Deere, ORBIS Manufacturing, and International Paper all have come to the table to ensure that the equipment we get and the lesson plans that are developed are on track with this new industry’s standards. We are so excited to be working with all of these innovative partners, coming together to help build this program to exactly where it needs to be. The Sloan Foundation, a long-time donor of funds for equipment to provide students with the best possible training, has agreed to donate an additional $600,000 for equipment to get these programs off the ground. In addition, the Ohio Hi-Point Career Center Board of Education has agreed to put forth another $400,000 in renovations to the classroom space. This program will be piloted January 2018 and is scheduled to launch, accepting a full group of students, in the fall of 2018. This program will have two separate pathways associated with it. The first pathway, the Applied Manufacturing, will be designed to provide a full understanding of equipment for students who want to develop their skills as technicians for manufacturing industries. The second pathway will be the Smart Technology Engineering pathway where students who are interested in the electrical engineering field will learn more about autonomous vehicles and drone technologies. This program is directly in line with where our community is headed. With the new Transportation Research Center being built, the Smart City Grant that Columbus will be implementing, and the US 33 Highway being used as the Smart Car corridor, we believe very strongly in the timeliness of this program and that our students can be an instrumental part in the future workforce needs. We are excited to have this opportunity and support from the Board of Education and backing of the community to be a part of training high school students and eventually of adults in these future pathways. Dr. Rick Smith is superintendent of the Ohio Hi-Point Career Center. ![]() City to ask county board for rights to property By Joshua Keeran - [email protected], Urbana Daily Citizen There appears to be light at the end of the tunnel for one of the biggest thorns in the side of the city after Urbana City Council authorized administration to accept ownership of the former Q3/JMC Inc. property, pending Champaign County Board of Revision approval, now that a developer has come forward willing to redevelop the site. The 605 Miami St. property, which has been vacant since 2008 and contains several buildings including a large factory partially destroyed by fire last year, also has an issue with contaminated groundwater on the west side of the property. “We believe pretty confidently we have an opportunity on the table for a developer, yet to be named, that’s interested in taking the property and developing it and expanding on it,” Director of Administration Kerry Brugger said. “The caveat is we have to take possession of it in order to work with Honeywell and the Ohio EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to get it cleaned up.” While Brugger added the development agreement is in the process of being finalized, the city’s primary responsibility will be to help clean up the property in order to obtain a “clean bill of health” from the EPA. The majority of the cleanup costs, he said, will be covered by Honeywell, who became liable for the western portion of the property where the environmental concerns are after acquiring the site from Grimes Aerospace years ago. During the cleanup process, any grants awarded to those efforts would go directly to the developer, who will be “driving and coordinating” the project, Brugger said. Prior to council waiving the three-reading rule and passing the measure to seek ownership of the property by a 5-0 vote (council members Doug Hoffman and Eugene Fields were absent), Brugger summed up the impact the property has had on the entire Urbana community over the past several years. “We are at a point where we are going to have to kind of control our own destiny and make this right for the community,” he said. “It’s an eyesore, and it’s a public nuisance. “It’s really a safety concern for not only citizens, but also our own workforce (police and fire),” Brugger added. “We are fortunate to this point that no one has gotten hurt.” With council’s blessing in hand, administration plans to present its case for ownership – free of back taxes – to the county Board of Revision during a special meeting set for 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 22, at the office of the Champaign County commissioners, 1512 S. U.S. Route 68, suite A100. “Hopefully by the end of the year or early next year, we can have the property transferred once (the board) starts the process,” Brugger said. Progress comes with a price According to Doug Crabill, community development manager, the city has been working on the Q3/JMC Redevelopment Project since 2011 when a Phase II Environment Assessment was ordered on the approximately 20-acre property. The assessment was completed in 2013 and funded through a Clean Ohio grant from the Ohio Development Services Agency. Numbers presented by administration show the city has used to date $265,818.89 in grant funding toward the project. Since 2012, the city has also paid out $96,909 for a variety of work and services (legal, engineering, surveying, etc.) associated with the Miami Street property. “We have quite an investment of time, effort, and an ongoing requirement because it’s in our sandbox,” Brugger said. “I think if we take possession of it, get it cleaned up, and get it back into productive use, our investment is not lost. If we push away from the table and let it sit down there, our investment is lost. We have an opportunity for the long term to recoup our investment and get (the property) back into productive use.” Based on the development agreement being ironed out between the city and the interested party, Brugger said, the city’s financial commitment over the anticipated three-year cleanup period is projected to be “somewhere just south of $350,000.” He added the costs won’t all be “hard dollar costs” or involve purchase orders. Instead, the $350,000 figure includes in-kind services or work the city is able to perform on its own using city employees and equipment. “I think it’s money well spent, money that we need to invest in ourselves or we are going to continue to fight something that is just a cancer in the community,” Brugger said. “We need to get rid of it.” Once the three parties – city, developer and Honeywell – complete the cleanup process, the city will see not only an immediate return on some of the money spent, but also future tax dollars through an increased tax base along with a new water and sewer customer. Brugger said the development agreement will include a selling price that the developer will pay the city in order to complete the property transfer once the EPA signs off on the cleanup. As for job creation, Champaign Economic Partnership Executive Director Marcia Bailey informed council the developer has had some success already in marketing the site. “They’ve already been approached by companies who want to start populating down there and getting it back to use,” she said. The initial projection of jobs the development of the eastern portion of the property could bring to the city stands at about 50, Bailey added. In other business: • The Urbana Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 93 is accepting registration forms for its “The Giving Christmas Tree,” a program that provides Christmas presents to children in need within the city. Forms, which are due by Dec. 1, are available at police headquarters in the municipal building, 205 S. Main St. • Council member Pat Thackery reminded residents that leaves should be raked to the edge of the curb, not into the street where they can end up in city gutters, backing up the storm water sewer system. • The city will pick up leaves through Dec. 5, while the compost facility at 1261 Muzzy Road will remain open until at least Dec. 3. Joshua Keeran may be reached at 937-508-2304 or on Twitter @UDCKeeran.
By working together during and after Manufacturing Day, manufacturers will begin to address the skilled labor shortage they face, connect with future generations, take charge of the public image of manufacturing, and ensure the ongoing prosperity of the whole industry.”
For the past five years, local leaders, manufacturers and education institutions have come together on Manufacturing Day to celebrate the county’s ever-growing manufacturing sector and to introduce high school students to the job opportunities available in their own back yard. 2016 event In honor of Manufacturing Day 2016, the Champaign County Ohio Manufacturing Human Resources Council with assistance from the Champaign Economic Partnership (CEP) hosted an event Friday in which dozens of students from Urbana, Mechanicsburg, Graham and Triad high schools were introduced to the following manufacturers: Honeywell Aerospace, WEIDMANN, Bundy Baking Solutions, Rittal, ORBIS, The Hall Company and KTH Parts Industries. The event consisted of three sessions – a morning tour, a presentation period/lunch at the Urbana University Student Center, and an afternoon tour. “Our community is fortunate to have the welcoming environment from the local manufacturers,” CEP Economic Development Director Marcia Bailey said. “They are anxious to showcase their products, explain the skills needed to work in today’s manufacturing environment, and offer time for the students to have a true hands-on learning experience. “We are also fortunate to have our local school systems (local school districts, Ohio Hi-Point and Urbana University) that want the students to have the opportunity to visit and learn more about the various career options that are available to them in manufacturing,” she added. During Friday’s two tour sessions, Triad students visited Rittal, ORBIS Corporation and WEIDMANN; Mechanicsburg students went to Bundy Baking Solutions and Honeywell Aerospace; Urbana students toured The Hall Company and WEIDMANN; and Graham students stopped by Honeywell Aerospace and Rittal. Graham Superintendent Kirk Koennecke said Manufacturing Day ties in well with the district’s Career Gears program, which focuses on the three “E’s” – enlistment, enrollment and employment. “It provides a great opportunity for our younger students to learn about careers close to home in a variety of settings to spark their personal interests and to help them set goals,” he said. “We applaud our community partners for helping us provide these important examples and for building relationships with our students.” At Mechanicsburg High School, Superintendent Danielle Prohaska said the district’s participation in Manufacturing Day helps support its increased focus this school year on the three “E’s.” “We also believe that partnerships throughout the county will provide additional connections, skills development, and employment opportunities for our students,” she added. “Our involvement is important in growing those partnerships. “We want our students to make connections with manufacturers and leave school prepared for employment, enlistment or enrollment.” Joshua Keeran may be reached at 937-652-1331 (ext. 1774) or on Twitter @UDCKeeran. By Michael Cooper, Springfield News Sun
Champaign County has a growing need for skilled labor at local plants as many in the workforce prepares for retirement, which is why county leaders and local manufacturers teamed up Friday to reach out high school students. About 100 high school students attended Manufacturing Day at Urbana University on Friday, held annually by the Champaign Economic Partnership. The event aims to educate students about the manufacturers located in the community, their products and the skills needed for employment, Economic Development Director Marcia Bailey said. Champaign County has about 3,725 manufacturing jobs, Bailey said, up from about 2,900 in 2013. >>RELATED: Honda supplier plans $24M to $34M expansion in St. Paris However a majority of the local manufacturing workforce has neared retirement age, including many who at the higher-end of the pay scale, Bailey said. About 49 percent of local manufacturing employees are between 45 and 64 years old, while just 3 percent are between the ages of 19 and 24, she said. “We need these students, this younger workforce to fill the positions that will need to be filled,” Bailey said. “It’s a huge, huge issue.” The average annual earnings of a manufacturing worker is about $66,000 in Champaign County, she said. “You don’t find those kind of jobs immediately, but you start working your way up,” Bailey said. The students toured several manufacturing facilities and participated in an interactive workshop Friday with companies such as KTH, Honeywell and the Hall Co. among others. It’s the third manufacturing education event held in Champaign County this year. >>DETAILS: Champaign County sees growth in manufacturing Rittal, which makes metal enclosures for industrial and information technology systems, also held tours for local students, Benefits Specialist-Human Resources Michele Mandelik said. “A lot of them said, ‘We didn’t even know you were here,’” Mandelik said. The company has several employees with 10 and 20 years of experience retiring in coming years, she said, and will need skilled employees to take their place. “When they leave, we’re losing that experience, so we want to transfer that experience to new hires,” Mandelik said. A group of sophomores from Graham High School toured the Honeywell plant on Friday morning, said Ali Peterson, who runs the career-based intervention and career connections program through the Ohio Hi-Point Career Center. The program helps students create both academic and career goals, some of which include manufacturing and aviation. “It was a highlight for them,” Peterson said. “It gave them some different options than they had previously considered and allowed to do some networking with them as well.” Each student has a different plan for the future, she said, which doesn’t always include college. Some students are encouraged to go to a career technical center or a trade school. “It will help them succeed and make them employable for years to come past graduation or that first job,” Peterson said. Students need to be as employable as possible before leaving high school, especially in light of state and national unemployment statistics, Mechanicsburg High School Teacher Kurt Forrest said. Many students complete four years of college, but sometimes can’t find a job in their field and are left with thousands of dollars in debt. “We need to make sure every single kid has a plan that fits that individual,” Forrest said. “When you do that you’re going to set them up for success.” Education is still vitally important, Bailey said. Students can also enroll in college while they’re still a high school student through Ohio Hi-Point, she said. “It’s not just one path, there are many paths,” Bailey said. The tour at Rittal was a great experience, Triad High School freshman Daniel Lake said. “I learned a lot just walking through the factory,” Lake said. “It’s a place I might be interested in after leaving high school. … (Manufacturing) is just a high-demand field. There are so many things you can apply the skills you learn for it, too.” By the numbers 3,725: Manufacturing jobs in Champaign County 49: Percentage of manufacturing employees ages 45-64 3: Percentage of manufacturing employees ages 19-24 Source: Champaign Economic Partnership Unmatched coverage The Springfield News-Sun provides complete coverage of jobs and the economy in Clark and Champaign counties, including recent stories on monthly unemployment statistics and expansions at Navistar. ![]()
By Matt Sanctis, Staff Writer Springfield News-Sun
Downtown Urbana has seen a spike in activity this fall, with three businesses moving into the city’s historic Monument Square District, along with other improvements designed to bring more residents into the heart of the town. Over the next several weeks, Big Willie’s Smokehouse will open a new barbecue restaurant at 23 Monument Square and Mark Joseph Floral Design Studio will open at 15 Monument Square. The law firm of Thompson, Dunlap and Heydinger also plans to open a downtown office in Monument Square by the end of this year, said Chris Moell, an attorney at the firm based in Bellefontaine. Improvements have also been made at Legacy Park, including fresh paint and a kiosk that highlights available businesses downtown, said Marcia Bailey, economic development coordinator for the Champaign Economic Partnership. The new businesses are a sign that interest and investment downtown has improved in recent years, she said. “We’re fortunate that if somebody does close, it doesn’t take too much time before someone else opens up, which gives us a variety of stores downtown,” Bailey said. >>RELATED: Agency focuses on economic development in Champaign Local leaders hope to see progress on other projects downtown, including finding a use for the former Douglas Hotel, Bailey said. That project hasn’t moved forward for years, but she said local officials have placed a renewed emphasis on that and other projects to promote further investment downtown. Bill Curtis of Big Willie’s Smokehouse said he had a five-year business plan to open a restaurant when he opened a barbecue food truck earlier this year. But the business took off so quickly he joked it ended up being closer to a five-month business plan. “We opened in March and we were overwhelmed,” Curtis said. “If I smoked 50 pounds of brisket, I could have sold 75. If I’d smoked 75 I could have sold 100, which is a great problem to have.” The restaurant, which is expected to open in October, will be decorated with large photos of downtown Urbana’s history. It will focus on serving items like brisket, pulled pork and smoked chicken wings. The store will likely hire six or seven employees. “We definitely want to see these buildings filled,” Curtis said of downtown. “We’re excited about the growth and the changes we’re seeing in our town.” >>DETAILS: Urbana’s Legacy Park nears completion Just across the street, Mark Mefford will open the floral design studio at 15 Monument Square. And the law firm will open its office in the square by the end of the year. It will be the firm’s fourth, along with offices in Bellefontaine, West Liberty and Lakeview. This year is the firm’s 50th anniversary. Mefford has been working in downtown Urbana since he was 19 and owns Bill’s Enchanted Flowers and Gifts. But he recently purchased H Holding Co. and will open the design studio in the square in a larger location. The new store will be open in mid-October, and will offer a variety of home decorations, gifts and the flower shop in a single location. The store employs about eight workers. Mefford’s brother is also building a custom-made cooler to show off the business’ floral products, he said. The former flower shop at 221 N. Main St. will close once they move into the new location. “It’s only doing better and better,” Mefford said of downtown. “I’ve watched it change over 21 years with ups and down. I think right now its only getting stronger. It’s becoming a destination town, which is really nice.” Unmatched coverage The Springfield News-Sun provide extensive coverage of jobs and the economy in Clark and Champaign Counties, including tracking local unemployment rates and expansions at Navistar. The Champaign Economic Partnership and Champaign County Chamber of Commerce recently helped two businesses celebrate their new downtown Urbana locations with ribbon cuttings. And the CEP began a new tradition—presenting “open” banners to new businesses.
Roxy and Ashley are happy with the help they received from the CEP and plan to refer others.
If you need assistance locating space for your new or growing business, or other resources, please contact Marcia Bailey at (937) 653-7200, stop in the office at 3 Monument Square Urbana or send an email to [email protected] |
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