Dayton area’s big week: 1,900 new jobs, $300M+ investment announced

John Bush
Staff Reporter, Dayton Business Journal

It’s been quite a week for the Dayton-area economy.

Six companies are expected to bring nearly 1,900 jobs to the Dayton region and invest more than $300 million on new facilities and expansion projects. And that’s all been announced in the last few days.

For local economic development groups such as the Dayton Development Coalition, the investment is an “exciting step forward for the Dayton region’s economy.”

“These opportunities are the direct result of the collaboration and hard work of our local economic development partners, JobsOhio, and the state of Ohio,” said John Landess, chair of the DDC’s board of trustees and executive director of the Turner Foundation. “We will continue to support these companies as their projects progress, and are grateful for their investment in our region.”

The companies and the jobs they are likely to bring are also diverse, ranging from manufacturing and retail to medical technology and logistics. Landess said this creates a “wide spectrum” of opportunities for the region’s local workforce.

The Dayton area’s big week started last Wednesday when I reported Speedway LLC was planning a massive expansion project at its Clark County headquarters. The convenience store giant is looking to construct a 140,000-square-foot building between its existing facilities to create an “enclosed campus setting” for its headquarters, which is located in Enon. The expansion project is valued between $42 million and $48 million, and would create more than 200 new jobs over the next three to four years.

A few days later, the Dayton Business Journal was the first to report that automotive parts manufacturer Tenneco Inc. will expand its Kettering operations with a $61.5 million investment and an additional 300 employees. The plant, which currently has 400 workers, will be transformed into a more prominent operation, serving as Tenneco’s single center of excellence for shock absorber assembly in north and central U.S. by 2020. In addition, the Kettering plant will become a center of excellence for critical components including valves and rods.

“We are proud of the thriving manufacturing economy in Kettering,” said Kettering Mayor Don Patterson. “We dedicate considerable resources to securing new, well-paying jobs for our community and once again our ideal location, world class amenities and sought after workforce will result in a significant business expansion at Tenneco.”

More good news for the local economy came Monday, when four companies announced they were planning to bring nearly 1,400 jobs to the Dayton region amidst $200 million in new projects.

The largest among them was online pet retailer Chewy Inc., which is poised to create 600 new jobs at a NorthPoint Development-owned building adjacent to the Dayton International Airport. Chewy will occupy 690,000 square feet at NorthPoint’s 70/75 Building 8 when the structure is complete next spring. The company is planning to establish a new e-commerce facility at the site, where it will fulfill orders for the 30,000 items it offers for dogs and cats.

“We are thrilled to extend Chewy’s fulfillment operations to Dayton, Ohio and appreciate the partnership with the city of Dayton, Montgomery County, Dayton Development Coalition and JobsOhio in the opening of our newest fulfillment center, our first in the state and eighth in the country,” said Gregg Walsh, vice president of Fulfillment Center HR Operations for Chewy. “We look forward to making a positive economic impact in the local community of Dayton with the creation of 600 new jobs.”

Bringing nearly as many jobs to the Dayton region is Crown Equipment Corp., which is one of the largest industrial equipment manufacturers the world. Crown expects to create 563 full-time positions as part of an expansion project in six Ohio cities, including Troy, where it currently operates a plant on South Dorset Road. The proposed project involves an increase in manufacturing, storage and distribution operations in these locations.

In the medical technology sector, Florida-based AxoGen is opening a 70,000-square-foot facility at 913 Industrial Park Drive in Vandalia. The $5 million site will house a new office and laboratory, with 200 jobs expected. In addition to the new jobs, the project will also redevelop a vacant building that formerly housed Veolia, a water, waste and energy company that relocated to a facility on South Brown School Road in Vandalia.

The final project announced was from the Azek Company, formerly known as CPG International. The building products manufacturer wants to establish a new recycled plastics conversion plant and create 35 jobs in Wilmington. The project would expand the company’s operations in the Clinton County city, where it operates an automated manufacturing facility.

Each project announced this past week benefited from tax incentives on the city, state and county level, providing a spark for the companies to move forward with their plans.

The four projects announced Monday all received Job Creation Tax Credits from the state of Ohio, ranging from an estimated $5.1 million to $85,000. Speedway was the beneficiary of a 15-year, 100 percent tax abatement from Clark County, and Tenneco was awarded a $500,000 Montgomery County ED/GE grant in late 2016, as well as incentives from the city of Kettering.