DevelopOhio

A “number of big projects” including data centers, mixed-use developments and industrial parks that could have a “substantial impact” on the region are underway in Central Ohio’s suburbs, Columbus Business First reports. Both Amazon and Google have announced “large-scale investments in new data centers” recently, according to the article. Amazon Web Services plans to invest “an additional $7.8 billion to expand its Central Ohio data center footprint by the end of 2029.” Google “pledged an additional $1.7 billion to support its three data centers in New Albany, Lancaster and Columbus,” bringing its total committed investment to $3.7 billion. Microsoft purchased a nearly 184-acre site in New Albany, but “has yet to confirm specific plans.” 

Several new mixed-use developments in Central Ohio suburbs “have been announced, made progress or have started construction in recent months,” the article reports. The Johnstown Gateway Planned District’s proposed 417-acre site will feature “industrial, residential and commercial developments, along with parks and open space.” Coworking company COhatch’s $9 million to $14 million mixed-use Riverview Village in Dublin “could transform a prominent section of the city’s riverfront.” Equity recently began construction on TruePointe, “a $200 million mixed-use development that aims to be a destination location” for Hilliard, with residential, retail and office space, a hotel and parking garages. New industrial park projects include the $400 million Silicon Heartland Innovation Park in New Albany, the West70 Logistics Center in far west Columbus near Hilliard, and in Delaware, the Pittsburgh Drive Business Park and the Exxcel Project Management buildings. For more, read the full article (subscription may be required). 

Team NEO announced it has elected Kimberly L. Riley, “the chief operating officer, property and casualty, of insurance brokerage firm Hylant” as its new chair of its board of directors, Crain’s Cleveland reports. Riley succeeds Lumitex Inc. president and CEO Peter W. Broer, who has served as board chair for Team NEO since 2021, according to the article. Bill Koehler, the CEO of Team NEO, “noted in a statement that Riley has more than 35 years of experience ‘as a business leader in the insurance and risk management fields’” during which time she has “built and turned around businesses, driven revenue and client profitability, and pioneered technology solutions that transformed the insurance industry.” Riley is a member of the Northeast Ohio Advisory Board for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, and she serves on the boards of the Rock & Rock Hall of Fame and Destination Cleveland. She has previously served as vice chair of Team NEO’s board “and was the organization’s Regional Economic Development Champion (business leader) in 2021.” For more, read the full article (subscription may be required).

Kettering City Manager Matt Greeson knows “dynamic and vibrant business communities are developed with intention,” not by accident, which is why the city “has a community-involved plan, coined ‘Spark Kettering,’ that will guide the city’s future," the Dayton Business Journal reports. The name is a nod to Charles Kettering’s invention of the electronic ignition; Greeson said, “[w]e wanted to spark good thinking about what the future of Kettering is,” according to the article. A “roughly 30-person steering committee is working with the city to shape goals, strategies and action steps” that will go out for public comment in November and is expected to be finalized late this year or early next year.

A ”major focus” of the plan is economic development and economic vitality, including creating “almost a Kettering downtown or more areas within the city where people can gather and build community, as well as bring economic activity.” Priorities include “growth at the Miami Valley Research Park, continuously growing the Kettering Business Park and working with the private sector on the revitalization of what we call the Tenneco property.” For more, read the full article (subscription may be required).

In Steve Luebbe’s 25 years as Fayette County engineer, he “has never seen the kind of infrastructure work the county is now embarked on to accommodate the Honda/LG Energy Solution Electric Vehicle (EV) battery plant being built in Jefferson Twp.,” the Dayton Daily News reports. He called it a “catalyst for change,” estimating that the county and partners including neighboring governments and contractors “are pursuing more than $100 million total in road, water, and electric infrastructure improvements for the enormous plant” that is expected to employ 2,200 people, according to the article. The county is “improving a wastewater treatment plant, building a water treatment plant” and an additional water tower and a roundabout. AES Ohio “said it will build 13 miles of 350-kilovolt power lines, with 2.5 miles of a 69-kilovolt line, a pair of new substations for transmission while relocating a distribution substation.” Luebbe compared the impact Honda will have in Fayette County to the effect the company had on Marysville when it built its auto assembly plant there decades ago, noting that “dozens of Honda suppliers” are near Honda’s Marysville location. For more, read the full article.

Developers are asking the City of Dayton to have the former Montgomery County Fairgrounds designated a blighted area eligible for a tax increment financing (TIF) district, the Dayton Daily News reports. OnMain, “a partnership between Premier Health and the University of Dayton,” is redeveloping the 38-acre site into a mixed-use space that would include “around 1,600 housing units, 900,000 square feet of commercial office space, 75,000 square feet of retail and 35,000 square feet of community space,” as well as up to three parking garages, according to the article. A third-party planning firm conducted an analysis that concluded the site meets the state criteria for a blighted property. OnMain says a TIF district would “help fund the infrastructure improvements that are needed to make the property ready for investment by private commercial or residential developers,” including water infrastructure, streets, utilities, sidewalks and other public amenities. OnMain “said it will work with Dayton Public Schools and the city to create a Tax Increment Financing District plan for the site” that would “propose a compensation agreement with the school district.” For more, read the full article.

A partnership between Cleveland-based Team NEO and Minnesota-based Center for Economic Inclusion aims to “help close the racial wealth gap and create a more just, inclusive and equitable economy in the northeastern Ohio region,” The Business Journal reports. That partnership, called the Northeast Ohio Equity Trust, “will create a collaborative learning and action network with access to the Center for Economic Inclusion’s proprietary racial equity tools and analytics,” according to the article. One of the tools the Center for Economic Inclusion brings to this effort is its Indicators for an Inclusive Regional Economy, “a data disaggregating tool designed to support communities seeking to make key data more widely available as a means of holding all employers accountable for accelerating inclusive economic mobility.” Tawanna A. Black, founder and CEO of the Center for Economic Inclusion, said the Northeast Ohio region “is a community rich with talent, diversified industries and tremendous assets that position the region well to compete in the global marketplace. The region’s ability to make inclusion a verb and produce equity that changes the lives of its Black and Brown residents will be the sustaining competitive factor.” For more, read the full article.

The Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved $1 million in state job-creation tax credits for two projects in Northeast Ohio: a new distribution center for Haydon Corp. in Stow and an expansion of the Canton headquarters of Employers Health, the Cleveland Business Journal reports. New Jersey–based Haydon Corp., “which makes framing and baseboard systems such as metal framing, rooftop support and baseboard heating,” was awarded an eight-year tax credit worth up to $700,000, according to Ohio Department of Development spokesperson Megan Imwalle, the article reports. Employers Health, “a group purchasing organization for pharmacy benefits,” was approved for “a seven-year tax credit that could be worth $305,000.” Imwalle said the amounts are estimated values of potential tax credits “if all elements approved by the Ohio Tax Credit Authority are met.” For more, read the full article (subscription may be required).

Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) was “born out of a public-private partnership” with a goal to revitalize Downtown Cincinnati at a time when “the urban core was struggling,” with a languid Central Business District and an Over-the-Rhine that had “vacant, deteriorating buildings and public safety challenges,” Cincinnati.com reports. For the past 19 years, the nonprofit developer has “worked tirelessly to achieve that goal, partnering with the city” every step of the way, according to the article. The partnership, started by then-Mayor Charlie Luken and Cincinnati corporate community members, “has always been strong, stretching across administrations and city councils, mayors and city managers.” 

Its public-private model “is one that cities across the country envy”; many have asked how to replicate it. What distinguishes 3CDC is “our public-private partnerships and the commitment of our corporate community” including P&G, Kroger Co., Fifth Third Bank, GE Aviation, Western & Southern, Castellini Company, Duke Energy and many more. Another “key aspect of the partnership” is shared investment; 3CDC “has invested $647 million on patient capital into its projects, with the city, providing a total of $177 million to 3CDC in project-specific funding.” This capital, along with other funding sources, has allowed 3CDC to complete “$1.7 billion in development projects, representing nearly a 10:1 return on the city’s investment.” For more, read the full article (subscription required).

One Energy Enterprises, a Findlay-based wind turbine builder, “unveiled its first Megawatt Hub,” a “breakthrough” for emerging energy-intensive industries such as digital currency mining, mobile data centers, cathode and anode manufacturing, hydrogen production, electric fleet charging and indoor farming, The Courier reports. Chief Executive Officer Jereme Kent said, “[t]he range of applications for our Megawatt Hubs is remarkable. . . .Getting this scale of power at transmission voltages is complicated, and the lack of access to this power has been stifling these industries. We hope to enable acceleration of these emerging industries by taking power problems off the table.” The 30-megawatt site is expandable to 150 MW, powered by “the first fully digital, transmission-voltage substation in the United States”; it will feature “a charging pad for electric semi-trucks and large electric vehicles” that can charge up to 90 electric semi-trucks at the same time at its initial sizing. For more, read the full article.

Hamilton City Council has unanimously approved a development agreement with Dublin-based developer Crawford Hoying for a proposed $150 million mixed-use development across the Great Miami River from Spooky Nook Sports Champion Mill, the Cincinnati Business Courier reports. Crawford Hoying “plans to redevelop the former Cohen Recycling Site”; the development agreement “encompasses the property at 555 N. 3rd St. as well as 134 Hensel Place,” according to the article. The developer will receive “a $3 million forgivable loan from the city of Hamilton in exchange for purchasing and redeveloping the Cohen Recycling Site. For that loan to be forgiven, Crawford Hoying will need to complete $150 million of development at the site by 2036.” The project’s first phase includes “more than 100 apartments, townhomes, 5,000 square feet of commercial space, a premium-brand hotel and parking.” For more, read the full article.