Commissioners OK loan application for new Airport West Industrial Park spec building

The Adena Corporation of Mansfield is looking to put up another spec building in the Airport West Industrial Park in Mansfield as a local partner in economic development.

The Richland County commissioners voted Thursday to approve an application with the Ohio Department of Development for a Rural Industrial Park Loan to help finance a 150,000-square-foot building north of one that Adena built and recently leased to the Hedstrom Division of Ball, Bounce and Sport.

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Barrett Thomas, director of economic development for Richland Area Chamber and Economic Development, said the state loan program is designed to help smaller, more rural communities develop industrial parks and build out capacity so there is inventory to sell to attract businesses.

“When the Jobs Ohio leads come through, a lot of times companies are looking for an existing building to move into. They want to be in production in nine months when everything is smooth and done and perfect, so in order to make that happen, we have that (spec) building,” Thomas said.

He said that while the loan program generally is used for municipal infrastructure for development projects or for communities to buy land, it also can be used by private developers to do construction.

Adena CEO Randy Payne told the board the company began looking at a second spec project to help keep inventory available for future local development after Hedstrom leased the first building.

More: Commissioners updated on Richland County economic development efforts

“The hurdle we came up with this time was the interest rates now in today’s market versus what it was then, so this program simply provides access to partial funds for the project that will allow it to be feasible at the rate that it’s at,” he explained.

Payne said the state loan is expected to have an interest rate of around half of the current market rate and will cover anywhere from $500,000 to $1.5 million of the $13 million that will be invested in the project. If the application is approved, which would be around mid-June, preparations could begin this coming fall and the building completed in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Payne said the 15-acre site has room for a 300,000-square-foot building or expansion to that size, depending on a company’s needs, and that the building could either be leased or sold. He noted that Adena has 50 acres at the Airport West site still under company control for future development that has room to build another 1 million square feet of industrial space.

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Design contract approved for additional courthouse renovation

Commissioners also took action on a number of the county’s own capital projects, including approval of a notice of expenditure of American Rescue Plan Act funds for a $45,500 design contract with MAD Studio LLC of Mansfield and design partner Karpinski Engineering of Cleveland to design a fourth courtroom for the General Division of Common Plea Court.

The courtroom will be built in 2,700 square feet in the courthouse/administration building now occupied by the Clerk of Courts once that office moves into space being renovated on the L2 level.

County Administrator Andrew Keller said the project includes a courtroom with custom furniture and some additional space for jury and evidence rooms and evidence storage space at an estimated cost of several hundred thousand dollars.

“It seems the docket never decreases and, as rules have changed, the expedience of some of the cases has also increased such that the court has to be ready to run multiple hearings simultaneously,” Keller said. “The project has been a long time coming.”

Officials hope to have the project under contract sometime in the fourth quarter. Commissioner Tony Vero said the courtroom is one of $12 million of county capital projects in progress, including remodeling of the land bank office and other spaces on L1 level of the courthouse and all courthouse restrooms that will go out for a design contract in several weeks.

Commissioners also approved a $516,087 design/build contract with Crawford Construction for a bridge replacement project on Champion Road and passed a resolution to advertise for bids for a boiler replacement project at Dayspring, the county’s assisted living facility.

Grant sought for housing projects

In other business, commissioners authorized the Ohio Regional Development Corporation to apply for a cooperative $700,000 Community Housing Impact and Preservation program grant for 2025 between Shelby and the county hat includes $300,000 for projects in Shelby and $400,000 for Richland County outside of Mansfield. ORDC Executive Director Dale Hartle said the program is for low- to moderate-income residents and will provide up to $75,000 for a complete home renovation or $25,000 of repairs to one or two systems in a house, such as electric, plumbing or heating.

Hartle told the board the current $700,000 grant, which also was a cooperative grant that was awarded in 2022, has six owner rehabilitation projects with one complete, two in process and three more to do in the next year. In addition, there are 10 projected home repair projects with five completed and three in process. Work on that grant must be completed by the end of April 2025.

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Richland County OH commissioners OK airport spec building loan