By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The new development firm near by the CSX rail hub in southern Wood County has delivered – bringing a new UPS site to the location – with 606 full-time jobs.
The Ohio Tax Credit Authority has approved a 10-year Job Creation Tax Credit for this project, which is expected to generate $27.7 million a year in payroll.
“This is the first building of NorthPoint Development, and we would expect there to be future buildings,” said Wood County Economic Development Director Wade Gottschalk.
“This is a good win for Wood County during a difficult economic development time,” Gottschalk said this afternoon.
“It’s a great project” for North Baltimore Schools, Henry Township and the village of North Baltimore, he said.
Gottschalk said the target opening for the UPS site is sometime in 2022.
This past February, NorthPoint Development approached Wood County about developing the site bordering the CSX intermodal facility. When the rail hub opened nine years ago west of North Baltimore, it brought with it the promise of further development.
But the North Baltimore site wasn’t on the map of most businesses.
“I know you all have looked at the CSX hub as an economic engine,” Brent Miles, of NorthPoint Development, said to the Wood County commissioners in February. But that engine stalled out – until now, he said.
The commissioners were asked to enter into a Community Reinvestment Act agreement with NorthPoint for 278 acres in Henry Township, across the road from the railroad hub. The CRA will allow for 100% tax abatements for 15 years for the businesses that occupy the buildings constructed by NorthPoint.
The school districts affected by the tax breaks – North Baltimore and Penta Career Center – had already entered agreements with NorthPoint to be reimbursed for their lost tax revenue.
The North Baltimore site is attractive to businesses because it’s less expensive than locating along the East Coast, according to Miles.
“Obviously land is cheaper to buy here than it is in New Jersey,” he said.
And this region boasts a workforce with a great work ethic, he said.
“This is a ‘day’s work – day’s pay’ area,” he said.
However, the remoteness of this area has been a problem for marketing the warehouse development. This is not the “Baltimore” that businesses know.
“No offense to your community,” Miles said in February. But he often has to explain where North Baltimore is located.
NorthPoint has dubbed the warehouse site as “Logistics Park Ohio.”
“We are selling your area very hard to that company,” he said.
“We’re excited about this,” he said. “It is finally the economic development realization of what that intermodal can be.”
