By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
“Project Bullseye” and “Project Apollo 12” took the next steps toward becoming realities in Wood County – not just code names initially given to them during the planning stages.
The Wood County Port Authority voted Friday morning to allow the construction firms working on both projects to avoid sales tax on building supplies. The port authority did the same last year for the Amazon fulfillment center – that one dubbed “Project Freddie.”
The latest projects are in Bowling Green and near North Baltimore.
“Project Apollo 12” involves a second 200,000-square-foot building for Ohio Logistics in the Wood Bridge manufacturing park on the east side of Bowling Green.
“It’s no secret,” said Bowling Green Community Development Foundation Executive Director Sue Clark. Half of the building will be used by an auto-related manufacturer from Tennessee. The company would like to be in the building by December, she said.
The manufacturer plans to employ 20 to 25 people initially, and work up to 70 to 75 employees within three years, Clark said.
“It’s a good fit for Bowling Green,” she said.
The new building is in a Community Reinvestment Area, so an agreement must be negotiated with Bowling Green City Schools, and City Council will be asked to give its blessing to a tax abatement, she said.
The building construction is estimated to cost $8 million.
In the first Ohio Logistics warehouse, the additional square footage freed up room at other local manufacturing sites to be used for production.
Bowling Green officials have been told by local manufacturers that finding adequate warehousing is important because several companies want to find space for new equipment or processes within their existing plants, and moving inventory into a warehousing facility could create that additional space.
As part of the Wood County Port Authority’s assistance with the project, Ohio Logistics will not have to pay sales tax on the building construction materials, said Rex Huffman, of the port authority. That could save the company $200,000 or so, he said.
Huffman said Ohio Logistics hopes to begin construction on Monday.
“While it seems like a lot of the economy is shut down, some construction is moving so things are ready to open up,” he said on Friday.
The same break on construction material sales tax will also be given to “Project Bullseye” – the NorthPoint logistics park project next to the CSX rail hub near North Baltimore. The break on sales tax for that project could mean a savings of up to $800,000, Huffman estimated.
The project requires “significant road improvements” on Ohio 18, estimated to cost between $2.5 million and $3.5 million, Huffman said.
The first building planned there by Northpoint is a 400,000-square-foot structure estimated to cost $34.6 million to build. Construction is expected to start in 30 to 60 days, Huffman said.
The NorthPoint Development project overall is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs, and be an investment of $150 million.
NorthPoint has dubbed the warehouse site as “Logistics Park Ohio,” and plans to build large warehouses, and recruit businesses to fill them.
NorthPoint is promoting the intermodal rail port, and the ability to temporarily store goods in the warehouses, where they can be sorted and then sent on the next leg of their journeys to their destinations.
