Relocation Enables Humtown Products to Expand

LEETONIA, Ohio – Humtown Pattern Co., also known as Humtown Products, has moved its operations out of the World Trade Park in Leetonia, the board of the Columbiana County Port Authority announced at its meeting Monday.

Humtown Products vacated the building at 120 Industry St., and moved operations to the port authority’s Leetonia Industrial Park Building at 600 Cherry Fork Ave., to accommodate expansions in the company’s operations.

“Mark Lamoncha has purchased another $1 million 3D printer, so they now have two printers at Cherry Fork,” said Penny Traina, the port authority’s executive director and CEO. “This allows them to expand.”

Humtown produces sand cores for the foundry and castings industries.

The board approved a new lease with Humtown for 68,000 square feet at the Leetonia Industrial Park Building. Humtown is occupying the space that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America Inc. vacated last month when it downsized from the 68,000-square-foot space to an 11,820-square-foot space inside the building.

In other matters, Traina announced that she is going on a trade mission to Thailand and Vietnam March 22-30 as part of the Ohio-Pennsylvania Stateline Export Initiative. Partners from the Ohio Small Business Development Center, Northwest Commission and Youngstown State University Williamson College of Business Administration will be going on the trip as well.

Traina said she is joining the mission, which will target Bangkok, Thailand and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to use the significant market research that will be made available to attract international businesses to Columbiana County.

Trade between the two countries and Ohio and Pennsylvania totaled $5.4 billion last year.

The trip is open for seven companies from Ohio and Pennsylvania. Grants will be available to assist these companies by reimbursing them up to 50% of the estimated $4,600 cost of the trip.

Among the companies recommended to apply for the trip are those in the industrial or electrical machinery and equipment, automotive parts and accessories, iron and steel products, optic and medical equipment, plastics products, chemicals and hardwood lumber industries.

“We’ll be meeting the local governments, the chambers, the heads of business and lay the groundwork for them to be able to possibly start looking at Columbiana County as a benefit to their trade and exports,” Traina said.

Companies must apply for the trip by Jan. 11.

For more information, Ohio companies can email Mousa Kassis, director of the Ohio Export Assistance Network at YSU at [email protected], and Pennsylvania companies can email Dorte Heffernan, international trade manager at Northwest Commission at [email protected].

Also at the meeting, the board announced that census tract 9518 in Wellsville, which includes the Wellsville Intermodal Facility, has been designated as an “opportunity zone.” The port authority submitted this tract to the state for inclusion in the program.

Opportunity zones were created in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to encourage long-term investments in low-income urban and rural communities across the country. The program uses the census tracts that have low-income communities to determine areas eligible for the designation.

“Private investors are eligible to receive tax benefits on unrealized capital gains reinvested in opportunity zones through pooled opportunity funds,” Traina said. “Our hope is that we can incentivize investors to take a look at our opportunity zone for future expansion.”

Pictured above: The Leetonia Industrial Park building.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.