Health insurer Aetna plans to add 350 jobs in central Ohio as part of an expansion in New Albany.

The Ohio Tax Credit Authority on Monday approved state tax incentives for the project, which includes retaining 957 jobs in New Albany.

The project was one of six to be approved; they are to create 656 jobs statewide and retain 1,365 others. The projects are to result in new payroll of $35 million and investments of $30 million.

Aetna declined to comment on the project in New Albany, saying a formal announcement is expected next week.

Aetna plans a new office in New Albany to accommodate growth, according to the state.

The new jobs will have an annual payroll of $14.2 million. The tax incentives have an estimated value of $1.4 million.

Also receiving approval for state tax incentives was a plan by Central Machinery to expand in Marion.

The project is projected to add 55 jobs, with hiring expected to start this summer. The company has 54 workers.

The family-owned manufacturer performs laser cutting, robotic and manual welding, stamping and other work.

It plans a 30,000-square-foot expansion of the facility at 1339 E. Fairground Road and will invest $8.6 million.

“The strong workforce in Marion and in the Columbus region as a whole has helped fuel our company’s ongoing growth,” said Rod Galbreath, the company’s president, in a statement. “This investment will enable us to upgrade our capabilities and provide the much-needed expansion for this phase of our growth.”

The tax credits have an estimated value of $325,000.

By Mark Williams
From The Columbus Dispatch

Facebook has chosen to build a new data center in the New Albany International Business Park. The company plans to invest $750 million to construct a 970,000-square-foot facility powered by 100 percent renewable energy. The project, the company’s tenth data center, will be situated on a 345-acre site located on the east side of Beech Road south of the State Route 161 interchange. It is slated to begin delivering services in 2019.

“We’re thrilled to have found a home in Ohio and to embark on this exciting partnership,” said Erin Egan, Facebook’s VP of US Public Policy. “Everything here has been as advertised — from a committed set of community partners and strong pool of talent to the opportunity to power our facility with 100 percent renewable energy. The Buckeye State is a great place to do business.”

A 2017 U.S. Chamber of Commerce data center study estimates that construction of a data center of this magnitude will employ up to 1,688 local workers, provide up to $77.7 million in wages for those workers and produce $243.5 million in output along the local economy’s supply chain during construction. The same study estimates an annual injection of $32.5 million into the economy once construction is completed. After completion, Facebook expects to employ approximately 100 workers at its New Albany data center.

The close coordination between JobsOhio and local, regional and state agencies was aconsideration in Facebook’s decision. “I am pleased that Facebook has selected Ohio for its newest data center and grateful to our JobsOhio economic development team and their partners for helping to make this happen,” said Governor John R. Kasich. “This is a $750 million investment in technologies and jobs of the future that will further diversify our state’s economy, and, with other leading-edge innovators locating here, help put Ohio front and center in the Knowledge Belt of the 21st century.” JobsOhio President and Chief Investment Officer John Minor added, “Along with New Albany and Columbus 2020, we welcome Facebook to Ohio. The attraction of Facebook brings another high-performing technology company to this state and strengthens the IT sector, talent and innovation in Ohio.”

New Albany landed its largest data center to date while competing with cities across the country. The center itself will be one of the most advanced, energy-efficient data centers in the world, featuring Facebook’s latest Open Compute Project hardware designs. It will be cooled using outdoor air and direct evaporative cooling systems resulting in world-class levels of energy and water efficiency.

Facebook was also attracted to the New Albany International Business Park’s robust high-speed fiber optic network, triple feed electric capabilities and its technology- and shovel-ready sites, notes New Albany Mayor Sloan Spalding. “Our commitment to public-private partnerships and collaboration has enabled us to streamline the planning process and accommodate businesses’ need for speed to compete in the global market,” says Spalding. “That success enables us to provide a high level of service and amenities for residents and generates substantial revenue for our schools.”

“New Albany city leaders continue to show great foresight by investing in public infrastructure and technology that enable the community to attract mission critical facilities like Facebook,” said William Ebbing, president of New Albany Company. “We are very proud of the collaboration between city leaders, the State of Ohio, JobsOhio, Columbus 2020 and New Albany Company that not only helped us attract a high profile company like Facebook but also has made the New Albany International Business Park an economic engine for Ohio, growing to more than 15,000 jobs.”

With the addition of this project, the New Albany International Business Park will exceed 11 million square feet of total development. The park’s Information and Technology Cluster, which includes Aetna, Nationwide Insurance, Discover Financial Solutions and TJX Technology Center along with Facebook, now accounts for $2 billion in private investment.

A new event center is opening its doors in New Albany.

The Estate at New Albany, a 15,000-square-foot event venue, opened its doors for business this month at 5216 Forest Dr. The venue is the third for the Brooks family, which owns the Brookshire venue is near Lewis Center and WatersEdge Event & Conference Center in Hilliard.

“We’re already seeing a lot of interest in reserving the space,” owner John Brooks told me.

The venue features open meeting areas with a large central event room and several side areas, including two suites for a bride and groom, outdoor patios and technology for business gatherings and working events. The interior was designed by Lisa Coleman of 6 Design.

The largest room, which is 4,500 square foot, can accommodate as many as 375 guests. The 1,900 square feet of meeting rooms can seat as many as 210.

Brooks said he expects a 50-50 mix of corporate and family events. Between weddings, bar mitzvahs and other events, the two standing venues are booked well into 2019 with an increasing number of events being held during the week.

Corporate events and weddings have increased thanks to in-house catering, event planning and other services that allow for all-in-one packages. All-day weddings – ceremony, dinner and reception – and multi-day retreats for companies are doable, Brooks said.

“This used to be a spring and summer business, but it seems like people are getting married all year long anymore,” he said.

Brooks’ wife, Joy, founded the wedding planning business that eventually expanded into wedding venues. The couple’s three children and grandchildren are active in the venue management, catering and event planning operations.

The project cost Brookshire Banquet LLC about $5 million to build out, including about $900,000 to buy the land earlier this year. Westerville’s Kleingers Group was the civil engineer, Feher Architecture LLC of Columbus was the architect and Equity Construction Solutions built the venue.

By Tristan Navera
View photo gallery at Columbus Business First »

Nearly a year after being split from its former UK parent, a supplier of fragrances for home care products such as air fresheners has been acquired by a Canadian consumer goods manufacturer.

Aromair Fine Fragrance Company Inc. just expanded this fall in New Albany, leasing an 84,000-square-foot manufacturing space. It has 200 employees over a total 140,000 square feet along Smith’s Mill Road.

Knowlton Development Corp., a Montreal-based contract manufacturer of health and beauty products, acquired Aromair for an undisclosed sum. Messages seeking comment were left with both. Private equity firm Novacap has backed several acquisitions for KDC in the past three years.

Strategic Value Partners, a London private equity firm that specializes in distressed assets, had invested in former parent Jeyes Group in 2011, when Jeyes first expanded to New Albany’s business park.

It has since became a majority owner of Aromair. Last December it sold off Jeyes, which made household cleaners.

By Carrie Ghose
From Columbus Business First

Amazon.com Inc. plans to add up to 12 more data centers to the three it started running a year ago in Central Ohio, adding jobs and investment – but it wants a discount on its electric bill first.

The e-commerce giant’s Vadata Inc. affiliate said in a regulatory filing it would build up to four more centers each on its sites in Dublin, Hilliard and New Albany.

“In just three years, the combined direct, indirect and induced effects of (Amazon’s) investment could create thousands of new jobs in Ohio and hundreds of millions of dollars in new regional income and GDP in Ohio,” says the joint filing from Amazon affiliate Vadata Inc. and American Electric Power Company Inc.

“There is even greater long-term potential for additional data center development beyond these three campuses as enterprises migrate more and more of their IT resources to the cloud,” it says.

Data centers usually run on spare staff, but the development would add at least 25 jobs, the minimum required when seeking an economic development arrangement from the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

Any job, wage, electric usage or other numbers specific to the project are blacked out from documents as trade secrets. Amazon has previously said it would invest $1.1 billion in a Central Ohio data center network. The company landed $24 million in state and local incentives for the data centers and distribution warehouses.

PUCO conducts a hearing Tuesday on the request for a tiered discount on electricity usage as the data center network expands, plus other fee reductions. Economic development officials from the three suburbs signed a letter supporting the deal.

Vadata’s application says only that the discount would be “modest.” From the character widths of blacked out figures, it appears that the discount on the kilowatt hour usage rate rises from single to double digits once the fifth data center is online.

The Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, the agency representing residential rate-payers, and the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association filed public comments arguing the secretive discount will inevitably lead to other customers making up for AEP’s lost revenue.

AEP (NYSE:AEP) would benefit from the expansion of a customer like Amazon (Nasdaq:AMZN), their joint filing says. It’s a large, steady user of power with consistent consumption 24 hours – no peaks and valleys at different times of days. In the aggregate, the application says, cloud computing in specialty facilities is more energy-efficient than numerous clients’ on-site servers.

AEP Ohio’s residential customers currently pay a 75 cent monthly surcharge to make up for other economic development deals, adding up to about $12 million yearly. Amazon emphasizes its discount would not be added to that line item.

The Consumers’ Counsel isn’t buying the feint: “Nonetheless, it can be expected that AEP will seek to collect from other customers, through charges on customers’ electric bills, the revenues AEP would forgo as a result of the discounts proposed in the application,” the agency filing says.

The unknown billing borne by other customers is “not limited or capped,” said the manufacturing trade group’s filing. “Moreover, the joint application is void of any specific commitments by Vadata regarding capital investment and employment levels that may provide public interest benefits.”

By Carrie Ghose
From Columbus Business First

For Dr. Kevin Klingele, watching a Miracle League baseball game is an opportunity to see children in a setting that lets them escape for a little while from a normal routine of doctor visits and therapy.

“You see the joy on these kids’ faces,” Klingele said.

As chief of orthopedics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Klingele said, he was introduced to the Miracle League program through the children he has treated.

After visiting Miracle Leagues in Dublin and Grove City, Klingele was motivated to bring one to New Albany, an area that makes sense for the program because of the city’s focus on wellness and its sizeable Special Olympics organization, he said.

To prepare the community for the new organization, Klingele is planning an awareness event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 4, at the New Albany High School softball field. The event will include an exhibition baseball game with team members and their buddies, followed by refreshments at Wexner Community Park.

The goal of Miracle Leagues, Klingele said, is to provide opportunities for children with physical or mental disabilities to do something they otherwise typically wouldn’t be able to do — in this case, play baseball. Each nonprofit league has a special outdoor field with a surface that can accommodate wheelchairs and children with special needs, he said. Children are teamed up with teens and young people who serve as buddies during the game.

Although some Miracle Leagues have groups for youth and adults, New Albany’s league will start with a youth league, Klingele said.

Klingele, who serves as chairman of the board for the Miracle League of New Albany, said fundraising is nearly at the halfway mark to move ahead with constructing a field there. The goal is to have the nearly $600,000 field ready for its opening pitch in fall 2018, he said.

Tom Rubey, director of development for the New Albany Co., said the baseball field would be on about 6 acres off Swickard Woods Boulevard. Rubey also serves as a member on the Miracle League of New Albany’s board.

The site originally was part of 45 acres the New Albany Co. had donated to the city, Plain Township and the New Albany-Plain Local School District, Rubey said. The area now includes a district school building, the township swimming pool and New Albany High School baseball and softball diamonds.

The open 6 acres, which is city land, sit between the school building and the pool, Rubey said.

City Manager Joe Stefanov said the city is planning to lease the land to the New Albany-Plain Local Joint Park District, which in turn would sublease to the Miracle League. City Council members would have to approve a resolution authorizing him to sign a lease agreement, Stefanov said. That resolution could be on council’s next agenda Nov. 7.

Dave Wharton, director of recreation and parks with the joint parks district and member of the Miracle League board, said the parks district could assist with custodial services at the baseball field because Wexner Pavilion is nearby.

“I think this would be a wonderful opportunity for us to be a part of,” Wharton said.

By Sarah Sole
From This Week Community News

Pizzuti Cos. has landed two tenants for a New Albany industrial development.

The companies have signed leases for Pizzuti’s Multi-Tenant II building on New Albany’s Innovation Campus. The two will use 50 percent of the 264,000 square foot speculative building at 8820 Smith’s Mill Road.

With these projects, the Columbus development firm has 144,000 square feet of space remaining in the building to lease out.

Aromair Fine Fragrance, which is based in a nearby building in the park, is expanding and moving into 84,000 square feet of leased space in Multi-Tenant II. The company is a manufacturer and distributor of fragrances, home and air care products.

It has a workforce of more than 200 people, including chemists, engineers, marketing professionals and production workers.

The other tenant is a New York-based company, Onyx Packaging Corp. The company designs, manufactures and distributes packaging especially for the cosmetics and personal care industries. They will use 36,000 square feet in the building.

“We’re pleased to welcome both Aromair Fine Fragrance and Onyx Packaging to our new multi-tenant building,” said Joel Pizzuti, president of Pizzuti Cos. in a statement. “Interest from potential tenants remains strong, as they recognize that New Albany’s Innovation Campus is an ideal location in which to conduct business.”

Pizzuti was the developer on the warehouse, which began construction in July 2016, with Ford & Associates as the architect and Corna Kokosing as the contractor.

In total, it has built more than 3 million square feet of space at New Albany’s Innovation Campus. Jim Miller with Pizzuti manages the leases there.

Last month, Pizzuti also began work on a $34.5 million, 1.5 million-square-foot expansion of its CreekSide Industrial Center near Rickenbacker and also began work on the next 223,750-square-foot spec building at the Southpark Industrial Center.

Pizzuti’s activity comes at a time that industrial development in Columbus is red hot. Central Ohio has an industrial vacancy rate at 4.4 percent, and more than 3.2 million square feet of speculative development is now under construction, JLL found.

By Tristan Navera
From Columbus Business First

A former New Albany golf course has been rezoned to improve its marketability as part of the New Albany International Business Park.

New Albany City Council in June approved the rezoning of 310 acres, 207 of which includes the former Winding Hollow Golf and Event Center, 6140 Babbitt Road. The facility closed in January 2015.

Tom Rubey, development director for the New Albany Co., which owns the Winding Hollow land, said the zoning change opens the site up for consideration from more users.

He said although he couldn’t provide a timeline for when the land would be developed, the New Albany Co. has been marketing the site.

“Our success in landing high-quality companies in New Albany has been due to us having shovel-ready sites that are appropriately zoned with power redundancy, infrastructure and the like,” Rubey said.

New businesses usually are good news for New Albany.

More than 80 percent of New Albany’s annual revenue is tied to income taxes, according to city spokesman Scott McAfee. That’s why city leaders place an emphasis on building a strong job base in the city, he said.

The zoning change from limited office-campus district to limited general employment could help attract large corporate headquarters and technology parks, according to community-development director Jennifer Chrysler’s legislative report to City Council.

The reason is the new zoning would allow more uses than the previous one did, the report said.

The site was annexed in 2015, most of it from Plain Township, Chrysler said. The land is south of state Route 161 along the Beech Road corridor.

Ideally, a tenant or tenants would want to build a campus on the site, Chrysler said. Although companies have not been identified, the rezoning is a proactive measure to prepare for future opportunities, she said.

“It’s just one more step in trying to get it ready for future prospects,” she said.

The business park already includes corporate and regional offices and companies that specialize in health care, information technology, technology, personal care and beauty, manufacturing and logistics, Chrysler said.

The Winding Hollow land could be used for any of those industries, although a research facility or corporate headquarters would best support the infrastructure that would need to be developed in the area, she said.

By Sarah Sole
From This Week News

Wallick Communities will bring 90 jobs to New Albany when it moves its headquarters to the city.

The business will move into Market and Main II, a 48,000-square-foot office space being developed in a joint venture between Daimler Group and the New Albany Co., said project spokeswoman Lisa Hinson.

Wallick is a 50-year-old business focused on providing affordable housing and senior living, said CEO Tom Feusse. Business units include real-estate development, construction, property management and asset management.

The company has been headquartered off Tussing Road in Columbus, just south of Reynoldsburg but with a Reynoldsburg mailing address, for 34 years and will move to New Albany in mid-October, Feusse said.

The business has 800 total associations and adds about 150 jobs every year, Feusse said. Those jobs primarily are the management of Wallick’s 200 apartment, assisted-living and memory-care communities, he said.

New Albany’s “walkability” was the primary reason for the move, Feusse said. Employees will be able to access leisure paths, restaurants and the Philip Heit Center for Healthy New Albany, he said.

“We just felt like that was a healthier working environment for our associates,” he said.

The building’s construction also gives company officials the opportunity to create a new space for employees, he said.

“We’re really excited for that opportunity,” he said.

Wallick will move into an 18,000-square-foot space on the second floor of the building under construction at 160 W. Main St.

Hinson said shops, eateries and service providers on the first floor of the building will be announced in the coming months.

“New Albany’s village center has always been an important component of the master plan for the community, not only for residents but for the 14,000-plus people employed at the business park, ” said New Albany Co. President Bill Ebbing in a written statement. “We continue to focus on creating a walkable destination where residents and employees can easily access amenities like the library, the arts center, the school(-district) campus, Village Hall, the health center, shops, offices, restaurants and more.”

By Sarah Sole
From This Week Community News

A business with North American headquarters in New Albany is planning a fourth expansion that will create 30 jobs.

Axium Plastics, 9005 Smith’s Mill Road, will build a $5.1 million building on Innovation Campus Way West to augment its facilities in New Albany. The business’ international headquarters is in Ontario, Canada.

To help facilitate the project, New Albany City Council on June 20 approved a 100 percent property-tax abatement valued about $90,000 per year.

The incentive would last for 10 years if Axium builds an advanced “green” building and seven years if it builds a baseline “green” building, said Jennifer Chrysler, New Albany’s community-development director. The “green” ratings are based on the building’s level of environmental sustainability with regard to its construction.

Axium Plastics, a contract manufacturer, built its first New Albany facility in 2011, according to the legislative report for City Council. The company expanded in 2012 and again in 2015 as part of a $40.4 million investment thus far in New Albany.

“There’s a large diversification of jobs for this company,” Chrysler said.

The 30 new jobs would create a minimum of $1 million in annual payroll for the company, she said.

Each year, revenue-sharing agreements for income taxes on the payroll would send a minimum of $6,000 to repay infrastructure debt in the New Albany International Business Park, $5,500 for the Johnstown-Monroe Local School District and $5,500 for New Albany’s general fund, Chrysler said.

New Albany has provided financial incentives for each of Axium’s expansions in New Albany, she said, and the company has exceeded the eligibility benchmarks for each of those incentives, both in the number of jobs as well as payroll thresholds.

Ven Bhindwallam, a controller for Axium, said the company nearly is ready to begin construction. The building is slated to be complete by the end of December. The company has about 450 employees in New Albany, he said.

The location has helped Axium expand because Columbus is a supply-chain hub, he said.

By Sarah Sole
From This Week News