NILES, Ohio – A $402,500 Appalachian Regional Commission grant to the city will support expansion at BRT Extrusions, Mayor Steve Mientkiewicz said.
The city announced the grant award in a news release Monday morning. The funds are from ARC’s Partnerships for Opportunities and Workforce and Economic Revitalization – or Power – Initiative.The grant is targeted to expand industrial capacity in the industrial areas on the city’s west side.
“Those dollars are specific to expanding capacity in our industrial areas. This project is going to be specific to expanding BRT Extrusions,” Mientkiewicz said. The company, which offers a wide range of aluminum extrusions including custom shapes as well as related services, plans to expand operations and is in need of additional electrical capacity.
The Power Initiative provides grant funding for communities affected by job losses related to the downturn of the coal industry, said Kathy Zook, Appalachian Regional Commission program manager for Eastgate Regional Council of Governments. Niles experienced job losses related to the closure of Ohio Edison’s plant in the city.
Eastgate assisted the city with the grant. “It’s very competitive, so kudos to them. They did a very good job of putting the application together,” Zook said. “We collaborated, but they did the heavy lift.”
BRT’s plans call for expanding the company’s physical footprint with an additional building, the mayor said. There also will be a job creation component to the project, a requirement of the Power grant.
“It may create about 30 [direct] full-time jobs, and then maybe indirectly up to 100 once complete,” Zook said.
A BRT representative did not respond to a request to comment by time of publication.
Pictured at top: The BRT Extrusions plant at 1818 N. Main St., Niles.