CHILLICOTHE — In what’s becoming a more common site in Ross County over the past 12 to 15 months, earth-moving equipment was spotted hard at work in site preparation activities Wednesday — this time on an 18-acre parcel of land on River Road that developers hope will be filled with new job activity by this time next year.
What makes this more than $4 million project just south of an existing Kenworth Truck dealership more unusual than most is that it marks the first time the county has granted a tax break to help with private construction of a spec building — a facility constructed without a tenant already lined up to occupy it. Chris Manegold, CEO of the Economic Development Alliance of Southern Ohio, said offering tax breaks to get those buildings in place and, thus, attract those looking for manufacturing or warehouse space may become a wave of the future.
The River Road project is being undertaken by Jim Nier Construction out of Piketon, which has experience in industrial park construction tied to a similar venture it embarked on around the turn of the century in Pike County. According to Jim Nier Jr., the intent on River Road is to construct a 100,000-square-foot facility that could be tailored to manufacturing or warehouse space or multiple tenants if there are those not needing all the available square footage. The construction would be followed up by another 100,000-square-foot building next door to the first. The hope is that the initial building will be ready to be occupied around eight months from now with the accompanying jobs it could bring.
Once the two buildings are erected, there would still be additional space available on the land if needed.
The Ross County Commissioners recently granted the project a 50 percent tax abatement for 10 years to get the ball rolling, Manegold said.
Nier said the site is perfect for what he and his father, Jim Nier Sr., have in mind.
“This site really has everything you’re looking for in terms of development,” Jim Nier Jr. said. “We’ve got something similar in Pike County, an industrial park we’ve been working on there since 2000, and we’ve had to petition for water, for sewer, for gas. Now (Pike) county’s been really helpful, but it’s been slow, it’s been a process.
“If you can walk onto a site and everything’s already there, it’s a huge advantage.”
The River Road site has been utilized before with previous structures and previous owners, Manegold said, but those efforts never had the potential the Niers’ project has for attracting businesses and jobs to it.
Manegold said the property is being actively marketed already, even before the first wall goes up.
“We’ve had conversations already — the usual suspects, companies that might be looking at expanding, real estate brokers, the local industrial network like Kenworth and others who might have a supplier network (looking for a home) to let them know what’s coming as it may influence their plans,” he said. “The Kenworth supply chain has really exploded in recent years, so that’s an obvious potential, but no guarantees.”
Manegold added that while Ross County may be just entering the realm of considering incentives for construction of spec buildings, it’s a practice that is used in other places.
“This was the first ever tax abatement (in Ross County) approved for a spec building,” he said. “The boxes around Rickenbacker (airport near Columbus) are typically built with tax abatements but this was new territory (here). It was really forward-thinking of the commissioners to do this because this will not be the last project (done this way).”
Manegold further said the project continues an active trend of new commercial construction that has seen more than 330,000 square feet of space built in the last 12 to 15 months.
“I don’t see anyone else in southern Ohio growing like Ross County,” Jim Nier Jr. added. “Hopefully, we can get some more manufacturing in here, something to put people to work.”
Manegold and the four-county Joint Economic Development Initiative of Southern Ohio recently hosted a multiple day visit for five national business site selectors to show off available development space in Ross, Pike, Jackson and Scioto counties and to showcase the quality of life attractions and amenities that make areas attractive to new business. He said most had never been to southern Ohio and were surprised to see the variety of available business transportation options, resources and life-enhancing activities and options available.
“Most importantly, we made an impression,” Manegold said. “That’s what we wanted to do. Southern Ohio is a place where I think only one or two of the five had ever been before and this created an impression of a place with features where real-life business activity is actually occurring and could occur. They got history, they got culture and they sure got business as far as business prep and business development (goes).”
Presently, the Economic Development Alliance of Southern Ohio is actively marketing the River Road project on its website, along with available multi-use or warehouse space on East 7th Street, the Gateway Interchange Industrial Park along Ohio 104, manufacturing and distribution flex space in the Kitchen Collection Distribution Center, North Fork industrial property in Frankfort, industrial land adjacent to U.S. 23 known as Prairie Run and the Schooley Station Industrial Park off Lancaster Road near Londonderry.
From The Chillicothe Gazette | September 24, 2016
