Ohio Launches Vacant Facilities Fund to Create Jobs
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio Development Services Agency has launched a program designed to find new uses for abandoned sites. The Ohio Vacant Facilities Fund will provide grants to help businesses create jobs in vacant and underused commercial buildings and business parks.
The program seeks to encourage companies to locate in and resue vacant commercial buildings and infrastructure. For-profit employers are eligible to receive $500 in grant funds for each new full-time position created in the vacant site that lasts at least one year. “The Ohio Vacant Facilities Fund will help the state address the issue of vacant properties while leveraging private investment and the creation of up to 4,000 new jobs for Ohio’s communities,” said Christiane Schmenk, director of the Ohio Development Services Agency.
The program requires that employers occupy a building or business park that has been at least 75% vacant at least 12 months and increase company employment there. The new employees must increase the employer’s base payroll when the vacant site is occupied and earn a wage at least equal to Ohio’s minimum wage. Employers must hire at least 50 employees or bring half of its current Ohio employees to the site.
Grant funds can be used for acquisition, construction, enlargement, improvement, or equipment of the site, Schmenk noted. The funds are reimbursed after the new employees have been employed a year, allowing a company to make further investment in the new business location.
Before occupying the vacant building, the employer’s is to submit a pre-certification request form to the Ohio Development Services Agency Office of Redevelopment. The office will review the request and certify vacancy and base employment. Following approval of the precertification, employers can occupy the site and increase employment there. Once the new employees have been employed for one year, the employer can submit a grant application to verify the job creation and receive grant funds for eligible expenses.
The Ohio Vacant Facilities Fund has been allocated $2 million from funds already budgeted for the Ohio Development Services Agency and is authorized through August 2015. Program materials are available at http://development.ohio.gov/cs/cs_ovff.htm. Pre-ertification requests will be accepted beginning Nov. 26.
The Office of Redevelopment, within the Ohio Development Service Agency’s Community Service Agency, helps communities with place-based redevelopment intended to create wealth from personal, business, and community successes.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.