DevelopOhio

The Columbus Foundation, the Columbus Partnership and venture-capital group Rev1 are joining Franklin County in a two-year pilot program to focus on “business growth in underserved neighborhoods,” The Columbus Dispatch reports. The county is joining Forward Cities, a national “economic-development network based in North Carolina” that works “to boost business startups and expansions in neighborhoods” that “haven’t benefited economically as much as other parts of participating metro areas have,” according to the article. The local program will be backed by “$250,000 in funding from the county and the three other partners” and “will include the formation of an innovation council.” For more, read the full article.

The Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) has rescheduled a local public hearing regarding Seneca Wind LLC’s application to construct a wind farm in Seneca County, The Advertiser-Tribune reports. The hearing will take place April 23, 2019 at 3:00 p.m., according to the article. The purpose of the hearing “is to allow interested persons in the project area, who are not parties to the case, to provide testimony regarding the project,” an OPSB news release said. The proposed 212-megawatt Seneca Wind Farm (see our October 3, 2018 blog post) “would be situated on about 56,900 acres of leased private land.” For more information or to make public comments before the hearing, click here and search case number 18-0488-EL-BGN. For more, read the full article. 

The Powell City Council “is considering an ordinance to approve an ambulatory-care” outpatient facility proposed by The Ohio State University that “is expected to employ up to 500 people and have a payroll of up to $50 million in its first phase,” The Columbus Dispatch reports. The project would be “the biggest development in the city’s history” and the city’s largest employer, according to the article. The first phase would include a five-story, 150,000-square-foot building and a two-story, 56,000-square-foot building, housing the ambulatory-care center, diagnostic services, house specialty care and offices for “primary-care physicians, internists and mental-health professionals.” The second phase “would add 216,000 square feet and could include a ‘micro-hospital.’” For more, read the full article.

Tech Data Corp., a distributor of IT equipment, plans to add 88 jobs to its current base of 208 positions at its Obetz facility, an expansion company spokesperson Bobby Eagle called a testament to the distribution center’s performance, Columbus Business First reports. Ohio “was competing with Arizona, Texas and Georgia” for the project to increase capacity, according to the article. The Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved “a 1.35 percent, six-year tax credit based on the payroll generated by the net new jobs,” a deal that “would be worth $275,000 over the life of the agreement, if the company creates all the pledged jobs and meets other terms.” For more, read the full article.

Dayton Power & Light Co. (DP&L) plans to invest $576 million in capital projects “to transform its electric grid” over the next decade, the Dayton Business Journal reports. DP&L’s proposal would allow the utility “to prepare for the integration of electric vehicle charging infrastructure and distributed energy resources into its grid, including community solar, energy storage and microgrids,” according to the article. The company says its Distribution Modernization Plan “will transform the electric grid into a system that uses information and communications technologies to allow our customers to experience personalized, innovative, and seamless energy services.” Investments “will also create a ‘self-healing’ grid, allowing DP&L to isolate problems automatically and re-route power around the problem without noticeable interruption of service to customers.” For more, read the full article. 

Job growth in the 15-county Greater Cincinnati region rose dramatically last year, with 24,900 jobs added — “more than triple the growth” of 2017’s 6,900 new jobs, the Cincinnati Business Courier reports. Those numbers reflect a 2.3 percent growth rate for 2018 compared to 0.6 percent for 2017. Janet Harrah, senior director of Northern Kentucky University’s Center for Economic Analysis and Development, “pointed out the local economy has increased jobs for 96 consecutive months,” according to the article. The service sector created the most jobs, with 19,700, while “[p]rofessional and business services jobs increased by 4,700.” For more, read the full article.

Canton City Council recently approved tax incentives for Thrasher Engineering and Julz by Alan Rodriguez to relocate to downtown Canton, CantopRep.com reports. The agreements “will create more than 30 new jobs total in the city,” according to the article. Thrasher, an architecture, engineering and field services firm, is moving its 27 employees to the Stark State College campus; the council approved a one percent income tax credit and discounted city parking for the company. Downtown jeweler Julz, which “will double staffing to eight employees” in its new space at 537 Cleveland Ave. NW, received “a 10-year tax exemption on any improvements to the property.” For more, read the full article.

Utah-based sPower, the wind farm developer behind the proposed 212-megawatt Seneca Wind farm, has opened an office in downtown Tiffin, The Toledo Blade reports. Seneca Wind “is one of two major wind farms planned for the Seneca County area,” and sPower “said the turbines it wants to install will provide enough clean energy to power almost 60,000 homes each year,” according to the article. The state certified the wind farm “as a qualified energy project in September, establishing a fixed payment in lieu of taxes throughout the operational life of the project.” The Ohio Power Siting Board has not scheduled a date for a final decision on the project. Seneca County Commissioner Shayne Thomas said sPower’s local office “will grow into hundreds of millions of dollars in new investment across the county.” For more, read the full article. 

The “next chapter” of the Dayton Arcade is “hitting its stride,” as developer Cross Street Partners is nearing $96 million in public tax credits, the Dayton Daily News reports. The project “is eyeing a capital stack” including $36.5 million in New Market tax credits, $22 million in housing tax credits, and $25 million in state and federal tax credits. PACE (property assessed clean energy) financing, $1.2 million in Montgomery County ED/GE development help, a $10 million loan from the city of Dayton, and a $900,000 JobsOhio grant are also “in play,” according to the article. David Williams, Arcade project manager for Cross Street, said, “[w]hat we’re really trying to do is write the next chapter” of the Arcade, with plans for restaurants, retail, affordable housing units, fine arts space, a University of Dayton innovation center, and more. For more, read the full article.  

Improvements in central Ohio’s air quality in recent years are leading the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to seek federal redesignation of the area to “attainment status for meeting National Ambient Air Quality Standards,” The Columbus Dispatch reports. Record levels of precipitation helped central Ohio achieve “mostly good air-quality days” in 2018, according to an annual report published by the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC). The Ohio EPA “told MORPC that preliminary data for 2016–2018 shows central Ohio’s air pollution concentrations are at 69 parts per billion — just below the current federal limit of 70 ppb,” according to the article. Central Ohio had three days that “exceeded federal ozone limits for sensitive groups during the 2018 season,” and had zero days of unhealthy particle pollution days for sensitive groups. For more, read the full article.