Top Micropolitan Community – for 11^th year in a row! Site Selection magazine has just released its 2009 rankings for economic development projects. Findlay and Hancock County ranked 10^th out of 674 micropolitan communities in the United States!  We have moved up from last year’s 12^th place ranking. Furthermore, we have been in the top 20 micropolitan communities for 11 consecutive years, every year since the ranking began! We can all be proud of a consistent and sustained economic development effort.

 

Also from Site Selection magazine – Ohio has won the coveted Governor’s Cup, awarded for the state with the most economic development projects. Ohio has won this award an unprecedented four consecutive years. Even more amazing, Ohio has won the Governor’s Cup four out of the last seven years!

 

Site Selection magazine focuses on new corporate location projects with significant impact. It does not track retail and government projects, or schools and hospitals. New facilities and expansions included in the analysis must meet at least one of three criteria: (a) involve a capital investment of at least US$1 million, (b) create at least 50 new jobs or (c) add at least 20,000 sq. ft. of new floor area.

 

GreaterFindlayInc. compiled and submitted several projects that met Site Selection’s qualifying criteria. Among those that qualified were the retention of 1,000 jobs at Cooper Tire & Rubber, a Whirlpool plant consolidation and Dow Chemical’s decision to expand its product line to include the manufacture of films for use in the solar energy field, an $8 million project. Additionally, TH Plastics expanded to a new location in Findlay, and Home Depot approved plans to build a new 657,600 sq. ft. warehouse and distribution center that will create 300 jobs, and is valued at $23.5 million.

 

 

 

Through our partnership with the Ohio Department of Development, we have been made aware 13 opportunities this year. We were able to submit sites and/or buildings for 6 of them. Sometimes these opportunities have very specific location requirements, such as: must be on a deep water port, must be in a major metropolitan area, or only Cincinnati and Columbus will be considered. Sometimes there are very specific building requirements. We monitor all these opportunities, submit all that we qualify for, and follow-up regularly.

 

We continue our outreach to international and domestic site selection consultants, corporate realtors and others who can help us identify prospects. So far, we have been able to submit sites and/or buildings for 1 project this year. Most of these searches are multi-state, so the competition is fierce.

 

Attraction Scoreboard:

·        28 Prospects/Projects engaged during 2009

·        22 Still Active, with the following potential (please note that some of the projects are early-stage so we don’t have the following metrics for them):

o       $15.9 million New Payroll

o       $146.7 million New Capital Investment

o       622 New Jobs

 

 

 

2009 Scoreboard

·        1,000 retained jobs (December, 2008)

·        $5.2 million in New Payroll

·        $13.6 million New Capital Investment

·        185 New Jobs

 

Cooper Tire & Rubber is aggressively seeking engineering and scientific talent! The company is ramping up its Research & Development capability, and is seeking candidates with the following experience and skills: Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Tire Mechanics Engineering, Forensic Engineering, Polymer Scientist, Computer Modeling, Mold Design, and Laboratory Technician. More information can be found on their website: www.coopertire.com.

 

Cardinal Health has announced plans to close its Findlay Distribution Center, due to a change in its business model. Despite our efforts to change this decision, we expect the facility to be closing by the end of May. Let me assure you, the facility is NOT closing due to the quality of its workforce. At its annual review, last fall, Cardinal’s Findlay Distribution Center was ranked Number 1 out of 74 centers nationally! These highly productive employees will soon be available. If you are seeking excellent employees, please contact Brian Mast, Cardinal Health Director of Operations at: 419.427.7219 or Brian.Mast@cardinalhealth.com.  We have also connected Cardinal Health with The Home Depot, as they will be ramping up their new distribution center later this year.

 

We have had the opportunity to have 20 visits with companies so far this year. The trend is very positive. Most of the companies are expecting a better 2010, and we are assisting some with expansion projects. Several of the companies had positive news to deliver for their 2009 year-end results. Yes, I know we are “paid to be positive”, but if you had the chance to speak with the business people we get to speak with, you’d be positive too. As can be expected, there are also several companies who are expecting things to be flat for 2010, and a few who are expecting further declines in 2010.

 

If you have plans to hire anyone this year, we invite you to check out Project Hire, being administered locally by JOBsolutions of Hancock County. Employers can receive an educational grant of up to $6,000 to train a new employee. The employer can choose short-term classroom training or on-the-job training or a combination of both. Further details can be found at: http://www.jobsolutions.net/project_hire

 

We continue to follow-up with a prospect for which we proposed a site in McComb. We are also working with Vanlue Mayor Bob Wells to ensure we put available sites (now with municipal water!) on our website and the State’s website. If you know of buildings and/or land that are available for investment, please let us know, we’d like to include all appropriate facilities when working with clients.

 

 

 

The Ohio Tax Credit Authority, which is the body that approves Job Creation and Job Retention Tax Credits for businesses has been busy so far this year. The agenda for the January meeting set a record for number of projects. February’s agenda was more normal. So far this year, 35 projects have been approved, leading the way for $126 million in new investment, 2,570 new jobs, and 3,203 retained jobs in Ohio. The Dow Chemical Company’s Findlay operations were a part of the busy January agenda, with a project that will consist of an $8 million investment, 20 new jobs, and 63 retained jobs. Dow’s project represents a diversification into products for the alternative energy industry. In addition to alternative energy, projects approved were very diverse. Examples include: suppliers to the petroleum and nuclear energy industries, logistics and distribution, corporate and professional services, financial services, regional offices, defense suppliers, life/bio science, bioproducts, and aerospace.