The City of Moraine, Ohio has launched a broad study to chart a course for the future of economic development in the City. This multi-faceted, six-month project has resulted in a comprehensive economic development strategic plan for Moraine.

AngelouEconomics (AE), an economic development consulting firm based in Austin, Texas, has helped us:

• Facilitate a unified vision guiding economic growth for the City and region
• Strengthen the capacity of area education and workforce systems to meet target industry demands
• Build a redevelopment plan for the recently closed GM site
• Identify specific short term strategies that lay out steps to attract, retain and expand high growth industries
• Develop longer-term strategies to create sustainable high-wage jobs in a mix of profitable industry sectors that leverage Moraine’s current set of assets

To find out more about the study click here to view the Roll Out Presentation

Old GM Sites Would Receive Funding for Clean Up

The Obama administration on Tuesday proposed a trust fund of more than $800 million to pay for the cleanup of closed General Motors sites in 14 states.

President Barack Obama salutes as walks off Air Force One at Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Youngstown, Ohio , Tuesday, May 18, 2010. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (AP)

President Barack Obama, speaking in Youngstown, Ohio, which is near a GM assembly plant, called the trust a "landmark agreement to help dozens of communities like Youngstown revitalize and redevelop old, shuttered GM facilities, preparing them for new industries, new jobs and new opportunity."

Ed Montgomery, who leads the White House Council on Automotive Communities and Workers, said the fund would clean up nearly 90 properties shuttered in the GM bankruptcy.

He said it represented the largest environmental and economic development effort for former manufacturing sites.

The cleanup plan will help raze or rehabilitate dozens of vacant manufacturing facilities and offices left barren by GM's government-led bankruptcy last year. Montgomery announced the cleanup at a conference sponsored by the White House and the Brookings Institution on the future of automotive communities affected by the industry's downsizing.

General Motors received $50 billion in government aid to get through its bankruptcy last year. GM has repaid $6.7 billion that the government considered loans, with the remaining $43.3 billion converted to a 61 percent stake in the automaker.

GM said Monday that its net income rose to $865 million in the first quarter. Company officials have said a public stock offering — a key step in the government eventually selling its ownership stake — could come later this year or in 2011.

White House economic adviser Larry Summers gave an upbeat assessment of the company's future, saying there was a "real prospect of the government recovering most, if not all, of its investment" in GM.

Montgomery and Summers said the environmental plan would provide $536 million for the cleanup of properties and about $300 million to help states and communities pay for property taxes, demolition costs, plant security and other expenses.

More than half of the sites are in Michigan , and others are located in Ohio, Indiana and New York. The fund will "take these properties and once again make them productive assets for your towns and communities," Montgomery said.

Some of the sites include: former GM plants in Wilmington, Del.; Kansas City , Kan.; Shreveport , La.; Pontiac, Mich.; Flint, Mich.; Lansing, Mich.; and Moraine, Ohio. Other facilities are located in Syracuse , N.Y.; Janesville, Wis.; Indianapolis ; West Mifflin, Pa.; Fredericksburg, Va.; Kokomo, Ind.; Framingham, Mass.; Danville, Ill., and Trenton, N.J.

The funding comes from $1.2 billion provided by the Treasury Department to wind down the "bad" assets of GM set aside in the company's bankruptcy.

The administration plans to work with states to finalize the plan and will present the framework of the cleanup to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York for approval.

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm said the rehabilitation of the manufacturing sites would help states trying to lure "green" manufacturing jobs such as battery production, wind turbines and solar panels.

"We want to make these sites the place for them to locate," Granholm said.

Granholm said environmental concerns have been the biggest barrier to redeveloping the state's 47 sites covered by the agreement. She said Michigan officials are talking with several companies who are interested in the locations.

Ohio Gov. Strickland signs land bank bill

Gov. Ted Strickland has signed into law legislation that allows Ohio counties to organize land banks to acquire vacant and abandoned tax-foreclosed properties for demolition or redevelopment, a tool the state said could help spur development.

Strickland’s signing of House Bill 313 expands a pilot project launched last June in Cuyahoga County. Under the law, 41 counties in the state – among them Montgomery, Butler and Warren – can fund land banks with loans or bonds whose debt service would be covered by revenue from penalties and interest on delinquent real estate taxes. The approach is based on a land bank model used in Genesee County, Mich., which includes the foreclosure-ravaged city of Flint.

Strickland in a statement said the bill gives “dozens of Ohio counties a vital new tool to proactively acquire abandoned properties.”

“In the hands of local government, these homes can be rehabbed, redeveloped, or if they’re too far gone, demolished with the land held for future development,” he said.

Dayton Business Journal
04-08-10

Dayton Region Makes Splash as Repeat Tier-2 Winner

An inland community in Southwest Ohio is using water as a drawing card to attract expanding companies. “Water is the new oil,” says Dayton Development Coalition CEO Jim Leftwich. “A lot of companies are looking five years down the road and realize they must be somewhere else in order to have access to water resources.”

In 2009, the lure of one of the largest underground aquifers in North America was used effectively to propel the Dayton Metropolitan Area to the top spot among all U.S. metros ranging in population from 200,000 to 1 million.

With 46 corporate facility projects that met the criteria of the Conway New Plant Database, the 835,000-resident Dayton MSA easily outdistanced runner-up Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, Pa.-N.J., which recorded 31 corporate real estate deals. The 46 Dayton deals generated more than $250 million in capital investment and created 1,500-plus jobs in the region.

A first-time winner of the Top Metro of the Year ranking in the second-tier MSA category last year, Dayton MSA successfully defended its title by playing to its strengths, says Leftwich. “We have a very focused regional strategy,” he says. “We know our strengths. Our advanced manufacturing base is our foundation. It can be applied in aerospace and other kinds of high-tech manufacturing. And we have tremendous natural water resources, including a high-volume, freshwater aquifer that businesses value.”

The DDC even launched a marketing campaign around the water issue and called it “H2Open for Business.” Sitting at the crossroads of Interstates 75 and 70 helps a lot too, Leftwich adds. “Transportation is a critical component of our success. In addition to major Interstates, the Central Ohio Logistics Center provides ready access to air and rail service. Plus, companies know that they can truck goods quickly to barges on the Ohio River.”

These site factors enabled the Dayton Region to land a $65-million distribution center for Caterpillar Logistics Services in Clayton, a $40-million manufacturing and warehouse plant for Community Tissue Services in Kettering, and a $21-million baby-formula factory for PBM Covington LLC in Covington.

Other notable projects came from Clopay Plastic Products, Grand Vista Oil, Advanced Electronic Tracking, Unison Industries, Carter Logistics and ADISCO Inc. Peoria, Ill-based Caterpillar plans to build a $1.5-million-sq.-ft. (139,350-sq.-m.) warehouse on 163 acres (66 hectares) in the Clayton Commerce Park. The project will create 500 jobs.

Equipment manufacturer Caterpillar pursued the deal for nearly two years. By locating in an Enterprise Zone, the company will receive a 100-percent property tax abatement for 15 years on all improvement to the site. Completion of the plant is expected by March 2011. Cat also received assistance from Montgomery County, the Ohio Department of Development and the DDC’s Shovel-Ready Sites program.

Diverse Stakeholders, Common Mission

Leftwich says the deal would not have happened without the cooperation of state, regional and local partners. “From Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to the University of Dayton to our legislative delegation, everyone is focused on creating a better business climate,” he notes. “And the Third Frontier program, started under former Gov. Bob Taft, gives our state and region a nice story to tell about technology-based economic development.”

One of those technology success stories is Community Tissue Services, which announced a facility investment that creates 50 jobs in 90,000 sq. ft. (8,361 sq. m.) of space in Kettering.

“CTS is one of the top blood-tissue centers in the country,” adds Leftwich. “And we had other project announcements in the life-science sector last year. Leis Medical is expanding in medical implants manufacturing in Vandalia, and North American Nutrition is moving into a new headquarters in Brookville.” Highly educated workers are the driving force behind these and other high-wage projects in the area, says Leftwich. Nearly half of Dayton’s MSA adult population has at least some college education. The MSA median age is just 37. Some 61 percent of area workers are white-collar professionals, many of them employed at the base, university or various high-tech firms.

“The research coming out of Wright-Patterson supports our key industries, including life sciences, advanced materials, energy and propulsion, and aerospace,” Leftwich says.

Momentum is carrying over into 2010, he adds. The DDC recently confirmed that it is working on more than a dozen new deals representing 2,300 potential jobs for the region.

“We are targeting the unmanned aerial systems used by the Department of Defense and public safety organizations like the Department of Homeland Security,” says Leftwich. “These are the people who work on drones and other remotely controlled aircraft. Like we have said here, talent can be a development component too.”

source siteselector.com