Regional Chamber Reports Development Activity
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber is working on 22 “good, solid leads,” the majority of which it expects to result in local projects over the next one to two years. “Not all of them will happen but I would guess the great majority, just from our past experience would come to fruition,” says Sarah Boyarko, chamber vice president for economic development, business retention and expansion.
Those leads came from 64 inquiries from out-of-town companies last year, of which 37 resulted in visits to the Mahoning Valley to look at potential sites, Boyarko told reporters at a briefing Tuesday.
“We don’t have too many people kicking tires or [as many] coming to see what’s here as we might have in the past. These are good, firm, solid leads,” Boyarko remarks.
Of those 22 leads, some have already begun negotiations on property or received commitments from the state of Ohio regarding assistance for their projects.
Among all the inquiries the chamber received in recent years, at least two projects are well under way: Exterran's new plant and Penn National's racino.
Exterran, a Houston company that manufactures production equipment for use at gas well sites, is completing construction of its 65,000-square-foot plant at the Salt Springs Road Business Park, where it expects to employ 100 workers. “They should be beginning production some time during the first quarter of this year,” , Boyarko says.
Penn National Gaming Inc., the Wyomissing, Pa. gaming company, began site work in late 2012 on a new thoroughbred race track and gaming center in Austintown. The chamber assisted Penn National last week with an event to introduce local contractors and vendors to opportunities for participating in the project (READ STORY).
About 45% of the leads the chamber is pursuing are related to the oil and gas industry, Boyarko says. Other leads include inquiries related to automotive and clothing manufacturing, data centers and office and professional space.
Last year, the chamber’s efforts resulted in $376 million in investment, 1,339 new jobs and 4,741 retained jobs; $177 million in retained payroll and $15 million in new payroll, and 738,198 square feet in new or absorbed space, Boyarko reports.
The Mahoning Valley is more often making it past the initial inquiry stages for projects due in part to the process the chamber follows with companies, she observes. At Tuesday's press briefing, Boyarko outlined a “quick snapshot” of that process.
Opportunities can be discovered through site consultants looking for potential locations for a company to establish operations or, in the case of an existing company looking to expand, through regular site visits chamber representatives conduct. Last year the chamber conducted 1,084 retention visits at area companies, she says.
The chamber offers a number of services related to site selection, including a database of properties. Having such information “at our fingertips” allows the chamber to respond more quickly to inquiries, Boyarko says. The chamber can also schedule confidential property tours for sites, expose a company to available incentives, and provide technical assistance and strategic information. Speed is often of the essence, and the chamber typically response to a request for information within 24 to 48 hours, she adds.
“If a company is [looking] in the Mahoning Valley in the morning, they’re almost always likely to be in Pennsylvania in the afternoon, and vice versa,” Boyarko observes.
The total process could be relatively short or perhaps two years, as in the case of Anderson-Dubose Inc., which in 2011 chose Lordstown as the site for its new warehouse and headquarters.
Tony Paglia, vice president for government affairs, says the chamber is one of the few economic development agencies in Ohio with international business attraction capability, an arena it entered a few years ago with the hiring of Eric Planey.
“We’ve gotten to be more on the map,” Paglia says.
Still, most international companies haven’t heard of Youngstown, he conceded. "So we still have a lot of educating to do.”
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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