WARREN, Ohio – Bringing large-scale industrial development projects to Trumbull County such as Kimberly-Clark Corp.’s $800 million manufacturing plant requires collaboration by several partners.
In May, Kimberly-Clark announced it would move forward on construction of the massive plant on land the consumer paper products manufacturer purchased from Western Reserve Port Authority in 2023.
The announcement followed years of discussions and planning, beginning with a meeting several years ago between local development leaders and site selectors working for then-undisclosed clients. Local partners in projects include Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, Lake to River Economic Development, Trumbull County Planning Commission, the port authority and Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, with each playing distinct roles that have evolved over the years.
“It’s a big team because each project is different,” Nicholas Coggins, assistant director/director of economic development for the Trumbull County Planning Commission, says.
The commission serves as the designated office of economic development for the county, Coggins says. Lake to River has a contract with the planning commission to conduct business retention and expansion visits on its behalf. When a company or site selector wants to meet with a county representative, the commission is the point of contact. It also manages the county enterprise zone program and other incentives and coordinates with local officials to meet the prospect’s needs.
Kimberly-Clark
It was shortly after the former Republic Steel property, owned by BDM Steel, was cleared “that we had this event where we brought in the consultants and targeted some of the folks we work with frequently to make sure they were informed of this opportunity,” Sarah Boyarko recalls.
Boyarko, who was affiliated with the Regional Chamber at the time of those meetings, is vice president, economic development, for Lake to River, the JobsOhio agency that was created in 2024 to serve Trumbull, Mahoning, Ashtabula and Columbiana
counties.
“We had no idea who they were. No one locally did,” Anthony Trevena, WRPA’s executive director, recalls. Site selectors representing the manufacturer asked questions about the site, including the current bifurcation of the property by the existing roadway. Once Kimberly-Clark was identified to local officials, nondisclosure agreements were entered into.
The Regional Chamber played a primary role in the Kimberly-Clark project early on, then more of a supportive role to Lake to River, once it was established in 2024, and the port authority, says Guy Coviello, president and CEO of the chamber.
A significant part of the chamber’s role is around public policy and “filling in the gaps where there could be gaps” in the services Lake to River and other organizations provide, he says.
“There were many times when the port and Lake to River needed some assistance in terms of support for some of the public policy decisions that needed to be made by the city, the townships, the county and the state, and so we were always there for them when they needed us,” he says.
The Trumbull planning commission worked with Kimberly-Clark on its initial investment and collaborated with the city of Warren and Warren and Howland townships to establish the joint economic development district encompassing the industrial site, Coggins says.
Infrastructure
Another partner in the JEDD is the port authority, which sold Kimberly-Clark the property for its plant and has a representative on its board. The port authority also entered into a capital lease agreement with the company and secured $17.2 million from the All Ohio Future Fund for infrastructure improvements, including a new access road to serve Kimberly-Clark and other companies.
“We worked with Eastgate and other entities to put together the preliminary plan for the new road,” WRPA’s Trevena, , said. The new road would provide an alternative for truck and other vehicle traffic wanting to access the Ohio Turnpike and interstate highways to driving through downtown Warren or Niles.
“Having direct access to that freeway makes a big difference,” he adds. It also opens the rest of the former Republic property for future development.
“This access really is valuable to anybody at that site, or anybody looking at the additional land that is available,” Jim Kinnick, executive director at Eastgate, says.
Eastgate serves as the region’s federally designated economic development district under the U.S. Economic Development Administration, according to Kinnick. It prepares applications on behalf of communities seeing infrastructure upgrades, such as the new access road that will serve Kimberly-Clark and other companies, that will help attract new employers or benefit existing local companies.
Planning for that project, including a feasibility study, began probably four years ago, Kinnick says.
“We don’t just throw everyone in the hopper,” he remarks. “We look for good projects that are qualifying and that will make a difference.”
Other infrastructure industrial infrastructure projects in Trumbull County that Eastgate helped secure funds for include the 1,000-acre “Golden Triangle” industrial zone in Warren and Howland, including $2.7 million for road, water/sewer and intersection upgrades, generating more than $47 million in private investment.
“We did a feasibility study through EDA,” Krista Beniston, economic development coordinator at Eastgate, says. Those planning funds “really helped show what’s possible and what’s needed,” she says.
“Being able to put money there and then watch it grow is certainly a win for all the communities that have been involved,” Kinnick says.
Another project was the Live Zone infrastructure planning effort in Warren to develop infrastructure improvements aligning with logistics, innovation and vehicle electrification.
Spinoff
Kimberly-Clark’s announcement, which was reported initially by The Wall Street Journal, definitely put the region on the radar of other companies, Trevena says. “It was global news,” he points out.
Boyarko acknowledges Lake to River has had a host of inquiries from not only service providers that want to work with Kimberly-Clark but also companies that want to be near the manufacturer.
“The company has done a fabulous job of enabling us to submit these inquiries to them directly,” as well as to the general contractor on the plant building, looking at construction as a specific example, she says. Kimberly-Clark has “a mission” of using local and regional vendors as much as possible and has welcomed the vendor outreach.
More recently, at the port authority’s Oct. 15 meeting, a Kimberly-Clark official outlined plans for a possible $160 million regional distribution center adjacent to the plant now under construction. If approved by the company, the center would serve the manufacturer’s customers in the northeastern and midwestern regions, according to Boyarko.
The planning commission also is working with the port authority and Lake to River on the potential Kimberly-Clark distribution center, Coggins says.
The potential distribution center would represent “a great opportunity for the Mahoning Valley to shine,” Trevena says.
“Our core competency in this region is geography,” he continues. “We’re in a great location for consumer traffic, for something especially of this scale.”
Other Projects
Other projects the port authority has done capital lease deals in recent years include Ultium Cells’ 2.8 million-square-foot plant and the TJX HomeGoods distribution center, both in Lordstown.
In some cases, the port authority’s work involves securing brownfield funds or, as with the West Warren Industrial Park, assembling property, Trevena says.
The first building at the West Warren park is nearing completion, Wiley Runnestrand, managing partner at Sapientia Ventures LLC, reports. Sapientia Ventures, a local venture capital group that also owns The Business Journal, is developing the industrial park.
This year, REM Electronics Supply Co., which recently celebrated its 70th anniversary, and Buckeye Precision Threads Inc., both based in Warren, each received small business grants secured by local partners from JobsOhio.
The chamber can play a support role for companies that don’t want public incentives. “If there’s a willingness, then a role that we can play is that of convener and facilitator,” he continues.
Other industrial projects that the chamber has played a role in include Foxconn, working closely with the company for nearly four years to navigate through local, county and state entities, connecting company officials with the community to ensure that they were embraced by the community.
“There came a point earlier this year when they gave the nod, and it was time to bring Lake to River into the picture and start talking about incentives for what they ultimately want to do there,” he says. The chamber also has been engaged with Graphite One since day one, specifically on energy providers and vendors that could support the project.
Additionally, the chamber has an important role to play in projects such as Amazon’s Bazetta Township warehouse, because JobsOhio – which Lake to River is affiliated with – “does not recognize last-mile distribution centers” and has no role to play in supporting such projects, Coviello says.
“It’s convening the right players out there to make sure they got what they needed in terms of utility infrastructure to be able to move forward,” he says.
Inquiries
Of the 123 properties that Lake to River has put forth in response to 75 individual leads so far this year that meet the needs of the companies inquiring, 51 are located in Trumbull County, Boyarko reports. Several of the 30 individual projects that Lake to River is managing ultimately could locate in the county.
“A couple of the projects are at the tipping point and going through their incentive approval process,” Boyarko says. She anticipates a handful of additional announcements before year end.
Boyarko says she is unaware of any inquiries related to the presence of Ultium Cells in Lordstown. “They could be doing it in a confidential way,” she acknowledges.
Both health care and metal fabrication have strong bases in the county, Coggins says. The region’s frequently touted geographic location – midway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh, and Chicago and New York, and reachable within two days to two-thirds of the U.S. population – make the area attractive to logistics companies. That has been an advantage to attracting distribution facilities for TJX HomeGoods and FedEx, as well as Kimberly-Clark.
“We have to look at our quality-of-life services and make sure that we’re able to maintain what we have, and we also have to maintain the population,” Coggins says. “We also have to look at all of our small and existing companies, because they they’re the ones that have been operating here and keeping us going.”
Pictured at top: Aerial photo of the Kimberly-Clark site in Warren.