By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green City Council held a special meeting Tuesday evening to vote on selling 50 acres to a company planning to bring 200 jobs to the community.
After an executive session, City Council unanimously approved the city’s sale of acreage in Woodbridge Business Park for $2.25 million.
“I do believe this is a really beneficial project for Bowling Green,” Mayor Mike Aspacher said after the meeting. “Two-hundred jobs is not a small amount of jobs.”
The city has been planning for this type of growth in Woodbridge Business Park. In the spring of 2017, the city approved a land purchase agreement with Richard Carpenter to expand the park, located in the southeast corner of Dunbridge Road and Poe Road.
The city agreed to transfer 80 acres of farmland to Carpenter, who in turn transferred 20 acres of farmland to the city. The 20 acres were adjacent to the business park – making them much more valuable than the 80 acres next to the city solar field off Carter Road.
The city also entered a 10-year purchase option on the remaining 40 acres owned by Carpenter adjacent to the business park. The developer has agreed to purchase the total 50 acres for $2,250,000, and Carpenter will be paid $1,425,000 for the 40 acres.
The land sale came about when Executive Director of BG Economic Development Kati Thompson was contacted by Scannell Properties, a national development firm searching for approximately 50 acres in Bowling Green near Interstate 75.
Thompson helped the city to negotiate a land purchase agreement with the developer for 10 acres of city-owned property plus the 40 acres that the city has an option to purchase from Carpenter.
City officials don’t know who the end user of the proposed project is – but Public Utilities Director Brian O’Connell believes it must be related to the distribution industry. The developer has indicated the building will be about 100,000 square feet, would create approximately 200 jobs, and should be near I-75.
Woodbridge Business Park has seen other recent growth. After Woodstream Drive in the park was extended to serve an Ohio Logistics warehouse project, the city was able to attract Marelli to start a new manufacturing operation in Woodbridge.
Marelli, which does plastic injection molding for the automobile industry, occupies half of one of the Ohio Logistics’ buildings. Marelli may expand into the other half of the building if demands grow.
Ohio Logistics is planning a third warehouse – expanding the business park eastward.
The DOWA plant in Woodbridge is also planning an expansion.
And the city is pursuing state funding to help build a second road into the business park, this one allowing ingress and egress from East Wooster Street, east of the Meijer store, Aspacher said. The city is hoping to put a second waterline and sewer line into the development from East Wooster Street, O’Connell said.
The city still has approximately 5.5 acres remaining in the business park to market for development.
And further east in the park, the city owns 40 acres at the southwest corner of Carter and Poe roads. That acreage has access to electricity, but no water and sewer services yet, O’Connell said.
On the other side of Bowling Green, a company is moving into the former Ishikawa plant at Van Camp Road and Brim Road. Binkleman, which was located in Toledo, distributes and services conveyor belts and parts.
“This is a better location for them,” Aspacher said. “It’s a really solid company and they’re really excited to be here – and we’re happy to have them.”
