By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green is seeing new jobs from companies that package salads, make parts for appliances, create cleaning products, and design holograms.
On Monday evening, the city’s board of public utilities agreed to transfer 7.8 acres in the John Quinn Innovative Tech Park, to the Bowling Green Community Development Foundation, which in turn will sell the property to Apio Inc.
Apio Inc., connected with GreenLine located on Ohio 25 just south of Bowling Green, is a major producer and supplier of packaged vegetables and salads sold at retail grocery stores.
The new site in Bowling Green will employ an estimated 30 people, according to Sue Clark, executive director of the BGCDF.
The new warehouse for the company’s chopped salads will be built in the tech park, which is located on the east edge of Bowling Green, just north of Napoleon Road, east of Dunbridge Road.
“They just have received a new contract with WalMart,” Clark said of the fresh veggie company’s need to expand. The contract will also require the existing site on Route 25 to add another 20,000 square feet for production, she said.
Also during the board of public utilities meeting Monday evening, Mayor Dick Edwards reported that ongoing visits with local companies are proving fruitful. Edwards, Clark and Municipal Administrator Lori Tretter recently visited the new Betco plant on Van Camp Road for the first time.
“We heard a lot of good things,” the mayor said. “They spoke glowingly” about working with city utilities, public work and fire division.
“It was an eye-opening experience,” Edwards said. “It was very reaffirming and reassuring.”
Betco purchased the plant for $4 million, and has invested at least $55 million in improvements to the site.
“It’s a huge undertaking on their part,” Edwards said, noting the company plans to soon close its three sites in Toledo.
Betco, which mixes and blends chemical compounds for cleaning, currently employs about 70 at the Bowling Green site.
Edwards reported another company, TH Plastics, located on Brim Road, is also expanding. The company, which currently employs about 260, makes blow molds for Whirlpool products. The expansion is expected to add another 40 to 50 jobs, and another 100,000 square feet of space.
“Every time we go out there, they are growing,” Clark said.
Also growing is NovaVision, located in the WoodBridge industrial park off Dunbridge Road. That company, which specializes in high-tech holograms and other security labels, is adding 11,000 square feet and seven or eight new jobs, Clark said.
In other business at Monday’s meeting, the board of public utilities:
- Heard from Public Utilities Director Brian O’Connell that six properties on Brim Road will be hooking into the city sanitary sewer.
- Approved advertising for bids for lime sludge removal from the water treatment plant.
- Approved advertising for bids for roof replacement at the water pollution control facility.
- Agreed to the purchase of a vehicle with a lift mechanism to meet the wastewater treatment plant’s waste hauling needs. The chassis is estimated to cost $65,000, while the lift mechanism is estimated at $30,000. The current vehicle used for this function lasted 21 years.
