YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Kimberly-Clark Corp.’s decision to move forward with an $800 million manufacturing plant in Trumbull County was the Mahoning Valley’s top economic development story of the year.
But it wasn’t the only piece of good news.
The Kimberly-Clark project represents the lion’s share of the total $860.2 million in completed projects that Lake to River Economic Development – the JobsOhio affiliate covering Ashtabula, Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties – participated in during 2025.
“The external construction has been completed, and then throughout the remainder of the winter they’ll be working on the internal construction as well as installation of machinery and equipment,” Sarah Boyarko, Lake to River vice president, economic development, says.
Last year, Lake to River responded to 85 leads, submitting a total of 144 properties in the four-county region for consideration. Investment attached to pending opportunities totals nearly $3.5 billion, with a total 2,317 jobs and associated payroll of more than $100 million, Boyarko reports.
Just a few acres of the property now owned by Kimberly-Clark are in the Warren city limits but the city is part of the joint economic development district – with Warren and Howland townships – formed to support the project. In addition to the 1-million-plus-square foot plant now under construction, the consumer paper products manufacturer is considering a regional distribution center on the property.
“They have not firmly committed to that, but it is something that they’re looking at,” Mike Keys, Warren community development director, says.
“I don’t know how soon they’ll be announcing but there’s a lot of moving parts,” Anthony Trevena, executive director of the Western Reserve Port Authority, says. The company’s “real priority” is to get the plant completed and operational, and a lot of site work remains to be done at the site of the proposed warehouse.
WRPA, which sold Kimberly-Clark the property where it is building its plant, is taking the lead on a new access road that will connect Kimberly-Clark and other Pine Avenue businesses to the Ohio Turnpike. “It’s a real game changer,” Trevena says.
Peninsula Project
Work also is advancing on redevelopment of Warren’s “Peninsula” project, near downtown. Announced by Dillin Corp. of Springboro in February 2025, the project is expected to include a nationally branded hotel, more than 400 residential units, a food hall, parking deck and more than 100,000 square feet of Class A office space, according to a news release.
Warren is seeking federal funds to assist the project and has applied for residential economic development district status from the state of Ohio, Mayor Doug Franklin says. Additionally, the city is working to acquire the remaining parcels needed for the project to have “complete land control” and is looking at a hotel operator and a food hall management company.
The developer is “just as eager as we are to see some positive movement,” Franklin says.
A pedestrian bridge over the Mahoning River that would connect the property to Perkins Park has been designed and Ohio Edison is moving power lines underground that would be too close to the bridge, Keys says. Construction of the bridge should get underway this summer, according to Franklin.
Warren is awaiting word from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to rebid one of the road projects involved in the Golden Triangle redevelopment that came in high, Keys says.
There has been strong interest in the new West Warren Industrial Park, which the port authority assembled land for and sold to Sapientia Ventures, which is developing a spec building on the site. (Sapientia Ventures also owns The Business Journal.)
“We’ve had a lot of interest and activity in West Warren, and we’ll continue to bring opportunities there,” Boyarko says.
Finding the right user for available properties takes time.
“[Sapientia has] invested more than they even projected that they would, so that’s a very positive sign,” Trevena says.
Pipe Mill
Several entities, including Lake to River, collaborated to secure Vallourec Star’s $48 million threading line at its seamless pipe mill, which broke ground in November.
“That was a really exciting opportunity. We were in competition with other locations, and we were able to win that deal for the city of Youngstown, Mahoning County and the Lake to River region,” Boyarko says.
“We want to see more development,” says Stephanie Gilchrist, city economic development director. “When you have development, you have job creation and that’s what we want to see happen in the city of Youngstown.”
Gilchrist is optimistic that the Kimberly-Clark plant in Trumbull County could bring projects to the city, as the massive project draws the attention of other prospective developers.
“If Kimberly-Clark is investing that much into our neighbor, then why not look at us?” she muses. “We just have to make sure that we’re ready and our sites are ready.”
Downtown Youngstown
Perhaps the biggest project taking place in downtown Youngstown this year is the demolition of the former Eastern Gateway Community College building and parking garage. WRPA and Mahoning County are partnering to develop a new government center and parking area once the building is demolished.
“The demolition of the building is a significant investment as well as undertaking, so we’re hopeful to get the building down as soon as possible,” Trevena says.
The city also is preparing for potential development associated with the Youngstown Innovation Hub for Aerospace and Defense, Gilchrist says. Announced a year ago, the state’s fourth innovation hub – funded with $26 million from the Ohio Innovation Hubs Program and $36 million in local, federal and private investment – will be based in the former Vindicator Printing Co. building on West Front Street.
“That is going to bring a lot of attention,” Gilchrist says.
The city and WRPA recently amended their existing agreement permitting the port authority to directly negotiate with potential developers for city-owned properties. The amendment specifically identifies eight properties, including the vacant 20 Federal Place downtown and the site of the ill-fated Chill-Can plant and research campus proposed by Joseph Development Co.
The city has carried those two properties and the other sites identified in the memorandum of understanding with the port authority for a while, Gilchrist acknowledges. Some potential developers might not want to deal directly with “the processes and procedures” involved in dealing directly with the city, and WRPA has more leeway in working directly with them, though the city still needs to make sure projects fit the city’s vision.
“We are responsible for what happens on that land and what development comes in,” she adds.
Allowing the port authority to handle the properties is just one example of the city utilizing its relationships with its economic development partners.
“The Port Authority has shown so much success,” she continues, pointing to its redevelopment of 2246 Glenwood Ave. with Youngtown Neighborhood Development Corp. and the former Chemical Bank site on Market Street in Boardman.
Trevena confirms WRPA has had “preliminary” conversations with potential developers regarding properties covered by the agreement with Youngstown. Though having structures on the Chill-Can site won’t serve as a detriment to marketing the property, there is no guarantee that what is built on the site would be suitable for whomever acquires it.
“The most important part is the access to the freeway. That’s an incredible asset,” he says. “You come right off the freeway onto the property.”
The Port Authority also is rehabilitating the former McGuffey Plaza property on Youngstown’s east side, which it acquired in 2022. Work on the site should be done by early summer.
“It’s taking longer than we would have hoped, but with acquiring grants, the cleanup and the environmentals, we’re getting through it as quick as we can,” Trevena says.
In Youngstown, Lake to River also held secure a $1 million Vibrant Communities Grant for renovation of the former Mahoning National Bank building downtown by 22 Market Street LLC, which is developing office, retail and residential space in the downtown tower.
“That’s a really cool project, and we look forward to the completion of that in the coming months,” Boyarko says. JobsOhio also provided the city with $50,000 to develop a two-phase plan to “reboot” downtown.
Seeing the redevelopments of the 22 Market and First National Bank buildings begin and finish is “definitely a focus” for city officials, Gilchrist says.
Spec Building
Lake to River helped GSP Land Holdings in North Jackson with securing a $500,000 Ohio Site Inventory Program grant from JobsOhio to support construction of a 25,000-square-foot industrial spec building on Silica Road in Austintown, Boyarko says. The structure will be designed to accommodate a range of industrial tenants, and Lake to River already is working actively to get the building filled.
“It’s extremely important to have control of those properties in an effort to do all of the appropriate site work and make sure that they’re highly desirable and shovel ready in order for us to move that much quicker,” Boyarko says.
The speculative building constructed by Top Properties in the new North Jackson Industrial Park already has been fully leased by Shapes Unlimited, and the developer already is looking at other opportunities in the region, Boyarko says.
Columbiana County
One of the Columbiana County Port Authority’s focuses is exploring its financing powers and expanding on that, Brittany Smith, executive director of the Columbiana County Port Authority, says. Another is expanding awareness of what the port authority can do.
“Right now, throughout Columbiana County, if you say to a business owner, ‘Why don’t you reach out to the port authority?’ most of them are not aware of who we are, what we do and what we can offer,” Smith says.
To address that, the port authority is launching a quarterly growth and investment series, she says. During each session, CCPA will bring in members of its finance team and bond counsel to meet with developers, community leaders, business owners, real estate agents and bankers to discuss what the port authority is and what it can offer.
“Ultimately, our goal is to be that first contact when a project is ready to move forward, she says.
Over the past year, the port authority has been focusing on bringing awareness to the Ohio River and stressing its importance to the state and national economy, she says. With funds awarded by the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Maritime Assistance program, the port authority assisted private terminals with projects that will increase their cargo-handling capabilities and improve the overall efficiency of their terminals.
“We currently have two grant applications outstanding at the federal level for the Port Infrastructure Development Program and the U.S. Marine Highway Program and we’re hoping to hear good news regarding those,” she says,
Additionally, CCPA is working with the village of East Palestine in its recovery efforts following the February 2023 train derailment, she says. The port authority is engaged with the new village manager, Antonio Diaz-Guy, on downtown development projects and new industrial site development.
That effort has included connecting with the existing businesses in East Palestine to identify their needs, both before and after the derailment, assisting them with any hurdles they’ve encountered, and helping them obtain recovery funds from the state.
“Across the county, we’ve been focusing a lot on downtown redevelopment, and have been working toward obtaining funds to assist with the high vacancy rates and blight throughout the downtown communities,” she says.
In October, state and local officials celebrated the opening of True North’s new corporate headquarters in downtown East Liverpool. The high-tech business services firm invested $1.8 million to renovate the 31,000-square-foot BOSS Building, which was built in 1930. The Vibrant Communities Program recipient, which has 55 employees, “is poised for growth and plans to add 25 more high-tech jobs before the end of 2028,” Lake to River’s Boyarko says.
CCPA is working to identify areas that would be suitable for development, whether for spec buildings rehabilitation projects or “prime locations” for future development. “We do get calls regularly for property and we’re trying to create and find the inventory for when those calls come,” Smith says.
Western Pennsylvania
During 2025, Penn-Northwest Development Corp. in Hermitage, Pa., received 14 new industry leads and issued 10 project proposals, Rod Wilt, executive director, reports. Additionally, the organization assisted 61 local companies through direct, technical, financial and workforce development support. A potential project off exit 15 of Interstate 80 near Mercer Borough “continues to dominate the conversation” around Penn-Northwest’s economic development strategy for the next two to three years, he says.
Mercer County, which owns the site, is managing the project, according to Wilt. InSite Real Estate Group LLC, a firm that specializes in finding locations for large transportation, warehousing, distribution and manufacturing companies, has an option on the site and has found a potential developer for the site, SunCap Property Group, which has developed large commercial warehousing space for other end users in Pennsylvania.
InSite has an agreement with SunCap to acquire the 206-acre site for the developer, which would do a “build to suit” for an as-yet-undisclosed end user. InSite, SunCap and the end user all have spent “a significant amount of money” getting the site ready for development, he reports.
Discussions have involved development of “in the neighborhood of 1 million square feet, and somewhere at or north of 1,000 jobs,” he reports.
“Now we’re just anxiously awaiting, sometime in 2026, a formal announcement by the end user as to when they want to start development,” he says. “As a smaller county, we don’t get many bites at big apples like this, so we have to figure out collectively how to bring this one home.”
In Sharon, officials are looking at ways to improve the city’s downtown and reuse its industrial properties.
Angie Urban, executive director of Sharon Community Development Corp. expects to submit an application by the end of March to Pennsylvania officials for a Main Street designation for the downtown, with an anticipated decision in a month or two. The application outlines a five-year strategy for downtown growth and, if approved, would open the city to additional funding opportunities.
Sharon is “uniquely positioned” as one of the few communities in Mercer County with a traditional downtown setting, offering the ability to create a downtown where people can have memorable experiences, she says.
“We are looking in this next year to not only support the existing businesses and grow that support network, but also looking to attract retail, food and dining, arts and entertainment activities, business-related activities and personal services,” she says. The focus would be on filling street-level storefront units on and near downtown’s main corridor to support “downtown vibrancy.”
The city also is nearing the end of a zoning update, with a focus on the city’s industrial land. “A lot of it has been looking at how to classify those industrial properties and looking at how to classify those industrial properties that may not ever be industrial again, and opening them up to other uses,” she says.
“There’s definitely a lot of opportunity, not just in industrial but also downtown properties for creative reuse and remodel of those structures,” she adds. Between SCDC, the city, Penn-Northwest, Sharon LaunchBox and Shenango Valley Chamber of Commerce, there are several support systems for entrepreneurs and industrial developers that can ease the process of opening a business.
She also praises the private investment and stakeholder buy-in within the city, including by JCL Development, which has purchased and rehabilitated several downtown buildings. What JCL is able to do with its private dollars “avoids a lot of the hurdles that other communities might have,” she says,
Out-of-town developers as well are investigating investment opportunities, she reports.
Construction on retail giant Target’s first Shenango Valley store in Hermitage – the retail anchor of the Hickory Fields development – is “proceeding in earnest,” ahead of what Mark Longietti, the city’s director of business and community development, anticipates will be a March 2027 opening. Restaurants Chick-fil-A, Chili’s and Longhorn Steakhouse are expected to begin construction by early summer.
Chili’s has developed “a new, very aesthetically pleasing prototype” for its restaurants, and Hermitage will be one of the first using the design, he reports.
Flicore LLC, Hickory Fields’ developer, reports “strong interest” in the five remaining parcels on the site.
“Their drawing continues to show another big box,” he says. “We believe they’re having discussions with that brand, but we don’t know what that brand is, and we’ve not received anything at the city that confirms that’s solidified.”
Longietti also says the city is meeting with local builders and developers on potential new housing construction at the LindenPointe campus, and is preparing to kick off a sewer extension project, which will extend sewer lines further east. “As we extend our sewers, it opens more land for housing development,” he says.
Sharon has been working with Hermitage in recent year to strengthen a “multimunicipality approach to communications, events and grant opportunities,” an approach Urban expects to grow. “What is happening in Hermitage definitely benefits downtown Sharon,” she remarks.
Among the major projects underway in Lawrence County is the Stonecrest Business Park in New Beaver Borough, which launched in 2024. “The final infrastructure improvements are going to be done in the spring,” Paul Bucciarelli, business retention and workforce development specialist with the Lawrence County Regional Chamber of Commerce, reports.
John LaCarte, president of LaCarte Development and principal of Stonecrest Business Park LP, says interest in the property has “really ramped up, so we’re cautiously optimistic about that,” Bucciarelli says. The sites can accommodate about 1 million square feet of space, he says.
The site was the properties that Forward Lawrence’s new CEO, Albert “Chip” Abramovic, toured with a Turkish delegation that was looking for investment opportunities in his previous role as a Venango County commissioner, Abramovic says. Forward Lawrence is composed of the Lawrence County chamber and Lawrence County Economic Development Corp.
The expansion of Steelite International’s global distribution center in Neshannock Township was among the highlights in 2025, Bucciarelli reports. The 325,000-square-foot addition cements the global tableware distributor’s presence in the region, and there is a pad available for another 200,000-square-foot addition.
“We’re really excited. The walls are already going up on the building, so the community is excited about that,” Bucciarelli says.
He also points to expansions by Berner International in Shenango Township – a 55,000-square-foot addition that will add 74 more jobs – and a new melt shop at Ellwood Group that reinforces New Castle as its primary manufacturing center, as well as Ezeflow USA Inc.’s Flowline Division, which has “big business” with the U.S. Navy on its nuclear submarine program.
“There’s a lot of heavy industrial space that can be utilized,” Abramovic says. The former Shenango China site and other idled buildings will be demolished this year, and several businesses in the western Pennsylvania corridor are preparing to expand.
Being included now in Pittsburgh’s metropolitan statistical area officially also provides opportunities that weren’t previously available to Lawrence County, Bucciarelli says.
Pictured at top: The Kimberly-Clark project represents the lion’s share of the total $860.2 million in completed projects that Lake to River Economic Development participated in during 2025.
