SIDNEY — Shelby County continued to experience positive growth and job creation throughout 2019.
“Continued low employment, new investment and job creation are indicators of sustained economic growth. Shelby County continues leading in manufacturing employment with the highest per capita employment in the State of Ohio,” said Jim Hill, executive director, Sidney Shelby Economic Partnership.
His report continues:
The following is a list of key projects and initiatives during 2019:
• Cargill, Inc. – Cargill led the way for 2019 with two expansions. The first was the expansion of the Sidney oil process line. That expansion included the addition of 968 square feet and an investment of $2.800,000. The second expansion, which was announced late in the year, includes an investment of $225,000,000 to expand the soybean crushing operations. Cargill will create 12 new full-time positions and retain 325 full-time positions. The project will also include 79,600 square feet of new building construction and will take approximately 3 years to complete.
• Sunrise Cooperative – This 11,000 square foot expansion in Botkins includes an investment of $18,000,000 in new grain storage. The project will retain 26 employees.
• Botkins Spec Building No. 2 – After the success of Spec Building No. 1, Botkins Investment Group LLC broke ground on a new 30,000 square foot industrial spec building. The building can be divided and is available for lease. The first Spec Building allowed the village of Botkins to attract trailer manufacturer, Airtow, in 2019.
• Custom Foam Products expanded their Fort Loramie facility by adding 47,500 square feet. The project included an investment of $1,200,00 and the retention of 50 jobs.
• Advanced Composites continued their longstanding investment in their Sidney operations by adding new plastic production lines. The 6,190 square foot mezzanine addition will create 12 new jobs and involved an investment of $16,000,000.
• Industrial Recyclers announced their plans to expand their Sidney facility by adding 32,000 square feet and investing $3,500,000 in new facility and equipment. The project will create 15 new jobs and retain 16 jobs.
• St. Marys Iron Works purchased and renovated the 56,710 square foot former Marvill manufacturing facility in Fort Loramie. The company employs 19 people.
• Choice One Engineering expanded their Sidney facility on Hoewisher Road. The facility now totals 7,100 square foot and they employ 44 people.
• Anna took a major step forward by extending water and sewer lines to the east side of Interstate 75. In addition, the Anna Local Schools continued a $20,000,000 remodeling of their school facilities.
• Airstream – Airstream completed the first phase of their new 750,000 square foot facility in Jackson Center in August. With the production facility completed, the focus has moved to completion of the new corporate offices and Heritage Center. In addition, the Village of Jackson Center invested millions to upgrade utilities and road infrastructure related to the expansion.
• Emerson completed phase one of their $100 million renovation of its labs and offices in Sidney. The entire project should be completed in four years.
• The year also included numerous retail and other projects like Murphy’s, Tavolos, Las Tapatias, the Loves Travel Stop grand opening and the ground breaking of the TownePlace Extended Stay Hotel.
• Micropolitan Award – The Sidney Area was again recognized as a Top 100 Micropolitan Area by Site Selection Magazine. 2019 marked the third consecutive year that the Sidney area made the prestigious list. Economic Development Visioning – Business and Community Leaders have been meeting to develop a shared economic vision for the community. Currently teams have been formed to work on several priority issues.
• Hometown Opportunity – Sidney-Shelby Economic Partnership and the Workforce Partnership continue to support Hometown Opportunity, a job posting – job search website for Shelby, Darke, Mercer and Auglaize Counties. For more information, visit HometownOpportunity.com
• Major project investment for 2019 totaled $267,893,000.
Current indicators show continued growth for 2020 with several new projects being discussed.
