CHILLICOTHE – Chillicothe has been ranked as one of the top 100 micropolitan areas in the country for 2014, and local officials say the designation puts the city in a good position moving forward.
Site Selection Magazine, which focuses on corporate real estate and economic development, recently released its list, which ranked Chillicothe in a tie for 74th. Projects that meet at least one of three criteria — $1 million in new capital investment, 20,000 square feet of new construction or the creation of at least 50 new jobs — are considered when creating the rankings.
Micropolitan areas are a recent designation by the U.S. Census Bureau that are defined as nonmetropolitan counties with core urban populations of at least 10,000 people but fewer than 50,000.
The Carlisle building renovation project and a new facility on Ohio 159 and Delano Road as part of an expansion by Murphy-Hoffman Co. were submitted by JobsOhio, the state’s privatized economic development arm, for consideration in the rankings. Chris Manegold, CEO of the Economic Development Alliance of Southern Ohio, said the news is good for the city.
“Chillicothe’s appearance on this list reflects an accelerating increase in business activity,” Manegold said. “Ohio finished second in Site Selection’s prestigious Governor’s Cup competition for 2014. We are pleased to have contributed to that success.”
Manegold said to be on the list “is obviously telling the world that we have activity going on here.”
“Just to have two projects meet the criteria is significant because not everyone does,” he said. “That notice is one more reason to put Chillicothe in front of the rest of the country.”
The Murphy-Hoffman Co. is constructing a 108,000-square-foot facility representing a $10 million investment that will add 50 new jobs when it is finished in the early fall. The building will receive trucks from the nearby Kenworth Truck assembly plant for inspections and other post-production component installations before the vehicles are delivered to customers.
Chillicothe had ranked 22nd on the list in 2011 when it had five projects that were submitted.
Manegold said he already sees the area building some momentum this year with at least two projects and a possible third that could be submitted as part of an evaluation for 2015 by the magazine. With development activity poised to accelerate, he said the rankings can help attract information to the area.
“It’s good PR, and we’ll take every good piece of news we can,” Manegold said.
From Chillicothe Gazette | By Matthew Kent | March 17,2015
