2021 Results: Sites

Choosing the right location is one of the most important decisions a business can make, yet it’s often the most difficult. JobsOhio offers multiple initiatives related to sites and buildings, all with the shared goal of encouraging job creation and capital investment within the state. SiteOhio gives companies access to an inventory of shovel-ready sites, while the Revitalization Program provides financial assistance to companies that want to redevelop abandoned, neglected, or contaminated properties. With the support of our six regional partners, we help companies make informed decisions about site selection.

Strength of Ohio’s Rural Counties

Site Selection magazine recognized four Ohio counties for their successful economic development outcomes. Holmes, Monroe, and Pike counties in southeast Ohio and Williams County in northwest Ohio were ranked in the top 10 of all U.S. rural counties that experienced growth based upon private project investments with a capital investment of $1 million or more, job creation of 20 new hires, or 20,000 square feet of new buildout by corporate end users.

Ohio was one of only five states with 11 or more qualifying rural projects. The recognition is a testament to the hard work that’s been put into making smaller Ohio communities ripe for business investment.

Ohio Site Inventory Program

The JobsOhio team regularly completes in-depth statewide site and building searches. Our portfolio includes a range of inventory types and locations. Our goal: to fill gaps in Ohio’s real estate inventory by proactively locating and authenticating sites for future projects.

SiteOhio, our site selection evaluation program, puts Ohio properties through an exhaustive review and analysis. Authenticated sites are construction ready. There is access to utilities on location. All due diligence studies have been performed. Any barriers to development have been identified and mitigated. These turnkey properties shorten development timelines and reduce risk. JobsOhio works for and with communities to market these sites, helping them earn more attention from site selectors. In 2021, we expanded the availability of sites by investing $54 million into site plans and cleanup. Nine companies selected SiteOhio properties.

Revitalization Program

The JobsOhio Revitalization Program offers loans and grants to redevelop underutilized properties and put them back into productive use. This funding lessens the financial risk and accelerates projects. The program’s primary focus is on projects where the cost of redevelopment and remediation is more than the value of the land and a site cannot be competitively developed in the current marketplace.

Rural King

Building a legacy in southeast Ohio.

With the help of an $800,000 Revitalization Grant, Rural King is expanding its distribution and manufacturing center operations in Pike County, making southern Ohio home to its North American import facility. The project will create 200 new jobs for the state. The family-owned business will invest more than $33 million to purchase and renovate a warehouse adjacent to its current operation in the city of Waverly. This project will put three vacant buildings back into productive use.

Revitalization offers a unique opportunity to bring investment to areas that have struggled to attract development. A brownfield site can be redeveloped for uses ranging from office and industrial to mixed use, depending on the location and characteristics of the property and market factors. Redeveloped brownfield sites offer companies and local areas certain benefits over Greenfield development, such as:

• Access to existing workforce in the area with known traffic patterns.
• Reusing existing utilities.
• Reducing blight.
• Improving the local environment by cleaning up contamination.