Names, players change in Johnstown industrial park development; interest remains 3 years in
JOHNSTOWN − Three years ago, a new industrial park called Johnstown Enterprise Center, on the southwest edge of the city, seemed to have landed its first tenant.
Since then, two potential tenants have come and gone, the owner and developer have changed, but the location at 10 Enterprise Drive, just north of Duncan Plains Road and east of U.S. 62, is again attracting interest.
The new name is the U.S. 62 Logistics Center, where Jim Havens and Brian Marsh plan to lead a $40 million project that will include office and industrial space designed for light manufacturing, research and development, distribution and other industrial uses.
The 20-acre site will be the fifth industrial project in central Ohio launched by the Havens-Marsh team. Havens is an attorney and principal at Havens Limited and founder and president at Rudolph Investment. Marsh is executive managing director at real estate firm JLL. Wes Gilliland, of Havens Limited, is also a partner in the investment.
“We were looking for a site we could develop for ourselves," Havens said. "We could build for a tenant with a special interest in it or on spec.”
Havens said the site lays out for two buildings. The plans are to build a 210,000 square foot facility, with a possible second building. Parking will accommodate 170 vehicles, with truck access available to the building.
“That area, in general, has been of great interest to a wide variety of interests for a variety of reasons — e-commerce, data center, manufacturing, corporate headquarters," Havens said. "There’s intense interest in this part of the world right now.
"As publicly owned companies such as Intel, Google, Meta, Amazon and others continue to invest in central Ohio, specifically in this area of western Licking County, we found this to be a good opportunity. There seems to be a steady demand for industrial users."
Marsh said each of the two buildings will be designed as multi-tenant facility, with up to six total tenants possible.
"We do have some initial interest in the project," Marsh said. "The market pretty much dictates what you do. We'll see where demand is and based on that, make a decision."
The market is tight and demand is great for industrial development, Marsh said.
"We fully expect continued growth in this area given the emerging technologies impacting every line of business," Marsh said. "With an overall market vacancy of just 1.3% for manufacturing space, we feel there is a real shortage of space in this segment, which we hope to be able to capitalize on in this new Johnstown project."
Three years ago, property owner Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority built a road and installed utilities for a 90-acre park, north of Duncan Plains Road. The rest of the original industrial park property has since been purchased by The New Albany Co.
New River Electrical Corp., an electrical contractor, had planned a $12 million development including a 50,100-square-foot corporate office building and training center and a 32,400-square-foot fleet maintenance and construction support building.
That development never happened. Later, the Port Authority was going to sell the land to Huntington Industrial Partners to develop, but that also did not occur.
"It’s a good location," Port Authority Executive Director Rick Platt said. "We did what we said we’d do. Certainly, there's been a lot of changes in Johnstown since we purchased it in 2018. In 2021, we finished the infrastructure we promised to build."
Havens said the property will be marketed, with the earliest possible construction beginning in the fall.
Johnstown Mayor Donnie Barnard is anxious for a tenant to commit to the site, which is an empty field now.
“I've not seen any design or plans, but it’s exciting," Barnard said. "Hopefully, it’s going to get built out. We really need economic development in our community.”
The mayor said although the city needs development to produce tax revenue, it also needs time to plan for all the changes.
“When they announced Intel was going to delay, I took that as a positive and there's time to do things right, and I’m really excited about that," Barnard said.
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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Johnstown industrial park attracts interest with new players in game
