Logistics Park Ohio, a $100-$150 million project with thousands of jobs, is poised to put North Baltimore on the map.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the Wood County Commissioners approved a Community Reinvestment Area Program for NorthPoint Development in Henry Township, across from CSX. The CRA is a direct incentive tax exemption program benefiting property owners who renovate existing or construct new buildings.
It could bring thousands of jobs to the area in the next few years, according to Brent Miles, a founding partner with NorthPoint, which is based in Kansas City, Missouri.
“It will take time to get there, but that is not an unreasonable expectation,” Miles said, adding that engineering and infrastructure work could occur this year. “This is an opportunity to really take farm ground and turn it into capital investment and lots of jobs.
“It’s a game changer.”
The deal gives NorthPoint 100% tax exemption for 15 years for each building. There could be five phases, with the first phase encompassing 278 acres.
The school districts impacted will receive 25 cents per square foot for each facility as the buildings progress, Miles said. The districts include North Baltimore Local Schools and Penta Career Center.
“When you’re talking about hundreds of thousands of square feet a building, it’s a pretty big number for the school districts,” Miles said. “It is finally the economic development realization of what that intermodal can be.”
There are several benefits to locating in Northwest Ohio, Miles said. The location is close to Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Detroit, for shipping.
“Your workforce is one major thing that we sell …. people have a really strong work ethic here,” Miles said.
The job numbers are 1,557 in the first phase, with an additional 489 in the second phase, according to information presented to the commissioners.
The company takes intermodal hubs and develops them into business parks,
The proposed master plan presented to the commissioners shows five buildings, ranging from 978,000 square feet to 504,000 square feet, located between Liberty Hi and Deshler roads.
Some of NorthPoint’s customers include General Motors, Amazon, Ford, Caterpillar, Flexsteel, Kubota and United Parcel Service. They build large warehouses to store, then ship products.
“If you’re buying it on your phone, it comes out of our warehouse somewhere,” Miles said. “It could be Bridgestone tires, it could be Amazon.”