YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Announcements could be coming in the next few months on another Vibrant Communities Grant and at least one of three economic development projects, representatives of Lake to River Economic Development said Tuesday.
Alexa Sweeney Blackann, interim CEO of the JobsOhio partner that covers Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Ashtabula counties, joined Michael McGiffin, vice president of engagement and investor relations; Sarah Boyarko, vice president of economic development; and Matt Falter, director of talent engagement, for the update on its efforts.
Blackann listed several accomplishments by the organization during the past few months. Those included helping Eastgate Regional Council of Governments secure state funding for a feasibility study for a potential energy pipeline along state Route 11, “an initiative that could be a game changer for regional infrastructure and future industrial growth.”
Other achievements included facilitating a $1 million Vibrant Communities Grant for the Huntington Building downtown. “We’re close to announcing another one in our part of the region very soon,” she said.
As a result of the 133 inquiries that Lake to River has received since its creation, the organization is managing 29 expansion and attraction projects throughout the region, Boyarko said.
“Over the next 12 to 24 months, these projects could result in $3 billion of total investment in real estate and machinery equipment and the creation of more than 1,100 new jobs,” she remarked. “Most of which are industrial in nature and fall in the areas of advanced manufacturing, warehouse and distribution, along with several data center projects and two more natural gas-to-electric power plants that are considering sites in the region,” she said.
Lake to River’s efforts year-to-date have led to four project wins that will result in nearly $811 million in investment in real estate, machinery and equipment purchases over the next three years, the creation of 579 new jobs and the retention of 61 positions in the region, she said.
Those wins include Kimberly-Clark Corp.’s announcement in May that it would move forward on an $800 million plant in Trumbull County. While the remaining projects have yet to be announced because of internal work progressing on the projects and the incentive process, announcements on those projects could be forthcoming in the next couple of months, she said.
Kimberly-Clark, which announced it plans to hire approximately 500 workers for the new plant, already has postings on its website advertising it is hiring for a Warren plant manager and a plant senior human resources manager at the site. The company is planning a broader recruitment effort beginning in March, Boyarko reported.
“If you haven’t been over to look at the site, there’s quite a bit of site work occurring, footers in the ground. We’re very excited about seeing that steel come up out of the ground here soon. We are also working with them to identify a whole host of vendors,” she said. “They have a mission to use as many local providers as they’re able to regionally, as well, so we are working with our research department to put that list together based on their specific parameters to support not only construction but opportunities moving forward.”
Projects like these depend on having appropriate available land and buildings for projects, she said.
“One of the areas that we’re currently targeting is site development. Right now, we have 192 available properties in the region, 96 land sites and 96 buildings,” she said.
Lake to River is “continually reaching out to those partners, as well as the property owners and real estate folks, in addition to governmental entities in our market that might also own property. And we’re working to create new land sites for opportunities, whether that’s a single site or possibly cobbling together smaller parcels to make a larger site,” she added.
“We know companies that are looking to move here, or companies that are expanding here now, not only need the facilities, but they also need talent and workforce,” Falter said. Lake to River is working with initiatives such as Find Your Ohio to find and attract individuals who have some sort of connection to Ohio, “primarily our market within our four counties,” who have attended school locally or left the area.
“We’re trying to entice them to come back with the opportunities that we’re creating for them through our pipeline,” he said.
Registration information should be going out soon for the regional talent summit Lake to River is hosting Sept. 25 at the Eastwood Event Centre. The primary focus of the event is to highlight local resources and partners and connect them with local companies, Falter said. The keynote speaker will be Meghan Grace, an expert on Gen Z and generation workforces.
“We heard loud and clear from our four counties that that was one of the No. 1 topics that employers want to know about,” Blackann said.
“Ohio is no longer at the back of the race” but is now “leading the pack” in measures such as competitiveness and site work in the years since the creation of JobsOhio in 2011, McGiffin said.
In recent years, local business leaders in the four Lake to River counties “saw an opportunity to take that system and have it work just a little bit harder” for them and proposed to Gov. Mike DeWine and JobsOhio’s leadership that local leaders could “do a tremendous job if we focus individually on this area,” he said. They agreed, but they also wanted what would become Lake to River to focus on gaining local community stake and focus on regional assets such as the Route 11 corridor.
“We have a border economy with Pennsylvania that we didn’t pay significantly close attention to when we were part of a larger region. All of these logistic and economic opportunities compiled together to give us a strategic advantage in developing this region,” McGiffin said.
Blackann also reported that Lake to River’s board earlier this month launched a national search for the organization’s first permanent CEO.
“This was always the plan. From the very beginning, the board and I were aligned on my role as interim CEO to get this organization off the ground, to build a strong foundation, recruit a top-tier team and create real momentum,” she said. “I intend to remain in this role until a new leader is selected and fully on board.”