California-based Bocchi Laboratories’ expansion plans will add 75 full-time jobs to its facility on Smith’s Mill Road.

Kevin Lee, vice president of business development for Bocchi, said the 72,000-square-foot expansion would be a $5 million investment.

“Design is complete,” he said. “We are going for permitting at this time with the city of New Albany.”

Bocchi’s 126,000-square-foot facility is used for manufacturing private-label personal-care products, such as perfumes, body mists and body spray, Lee said. The expansion will enable the facility to begin manufacturing lotions, shampoos and hand and body creams, he said.

Lee said company officials want to begin construction for the expansion this spring and complete it by the beginning of September. The 75 jobs would be added over a two-year period.

New Albany City Council on April 4 approved a 100 percent real-property-tax abatement for a term of 10 or 15 years for Bocchi’s expansion.

Jennifer Chrysler, New Albany’s community-development director, said the incentive term would depend upon how environmentally friendly the expansion will be.

Chrysler said she was unable to determine the anticipated value of the incentive because the city doesn’t have the approved design plan. She said she was not comfortable estimating the building value until she knows the final size of the building.

According to council’s legislative report, as of Dec. 31, Bocchi reported 300 jobs and a payroll of $10.3 million at the New Albany facility.

The 75 full-time jobs created as a result of the expansion would have an additional annual payroll of $2 million, the report said.

The additional annual income-tax revenue from the new jobs would be $40,000. Per revenue-sharing agreements, $12,000 would go toward infrastructure debt, $6,000 would go to Columbus, $11,000 would go to the Johnstown-Monroe Local School District and $11,000 would go to New Albany’s general fund. Most of New Albany’s general-fund revenue comes from income-tax collections.

Bocchi opened its New Albany facility in 2015, Lee said. The New Albany International Business Park’s Personal Care and Beauty Campus and its manufacturer groups, as well as the available incentives, helped persuade the business to locate there, he said.

In 2014, City Council approved a 100 percent real-property-tax abatement for 15 years for the initial project.

By  Sarah Sole
From This Week Community News

New Albany Community Foundation executive director Craig Mohre sees potential in a recent collaboration with the city.

Years from now, markers installed by the community foundation could be included in a walking tour telling the story of how cooperation and shared visions helped New Albany evolve, he said.

Residents might have noticed the new markers at three locations: the Philip Heit Center for Healthy New Albany, the New Albany branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library and the Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center for the Arts.

Mohre said the goal is to recognize ways in which organizations and agencies have worked together to create opportunities throughout the community.

“I want to make sure that spirit of cooperation continues,” Mohre said.

Each location will receive a plaque and a marker including information about everyone involved with the project, he said.

Although the first three markers are installed at the Heit Center, the library and the McCoy Center, the plaques have yet to be installed, Mohre said.

All three facilities were collaborations, he said.

The library was a collaboration between the Columbus Metropolitan Library and the New Albany Community Foundation; the McCoy Center was a product of the New Albany-Plain Local School District, the city of New Albany, Plain Township and the New Albany Community Foundation; and the Heit Center was a joint effort among the city, Healthy New Albany, the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Mohre said.

The New Albany Co. also donated land for the McCoy Center and the Heit Center, he said.

The community foundation plans to add three city locations with markers this year, Mohre said.

The school district’s campus will be one, he said, because the New Albany Co. donated land and the New Albany Community Authority was used to help build the high school.

Similarly, the nature preserve and wetlands near the K-1 building were a collaboration between the school district and New Albany, with the goal that the land could serve as an environmental science lab for students, Mohre said.

“It was forward thinking of those community leaders to actually make that happen,” he said.

Finally, the foundation plans to install a marker at Wexner Community Park, 7600 Swickard Woods Blvd., land for which the New Albany Co. opted to donate to the community instead of using for residential use, Mohre said.

Other past and future collaborative projects that might be recognized include the Plain Township fire station at 9500 Johnstown Road, the planned amphitheater at the McCoy Center and the eventual beautification plans for the Rose Run corridor, he said.

New Albany spokesman Scott McAfee said the community foundation’s initiative is an opportunity for future residents to learn the origins of local attractions and facilities.

“They are an opportunity to apply recognition to some of the catalytic projects that have impacted our community in some way,” he said.

By Sarah Sole
From This Week News

New Albany officials estimate a new $15 million project in the New Albany International Business Park will create as many as 200 jobs and generate $100,000 a year in annual income-tax collections.

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

Columbus-based Carey Realty Investments plans to build a 300,000-square-foot industrial building on the southeast corner of Innovation Campus Way and Harrison Road.

The building, which will be used by logistics and manufacturing businesses, is being built speculatively, said company president and CEO Ed Carey.

CRI is working with M+A Architects on the project and is in the process of selecting a construction company, he said.

Construction is expected to begin this spring, and the building should be ready for occupancy by the end of the year, Carey said.

New Albany has awarded a property-tax abatement to CRI, and the duration of the abatement depends upon how environmentally friendly the new building will be, said Jennifer Chrysler, director of community development.

CRI will either receive a 10-year abatement on property taxes, a value of about $2.6 million, or a 15-year abatement, a value of $4 million, Chrysler said.

Of the $100,000 in annual income-tax revenue the project is projected to generate, about $30,000 would go toward infrastructure payments, $26,000 would go to Columbus, $22,000 would go to the Licking Heights Local School District and $22,000 would go to the city’s general fund, Chrysler said.

The project is a result of the city’s infrastructure investment in the expansion of Innovation Campus Way to the east, Chrysler said.

The road is being extended 5,000 feet east from Harrison to Mink Street and is slated to be finished this summer. Innovation Campus Way also was extended 1,500 feet west from Beech Road.

Chrysler said city officials have worked for several years to diversity the industries in the business park. The park began attracting corporate offices and operations centers, but the city’s fiber-optics network soon lured data centers, she said.

Likewise, the presence of Mount Carmel New Albany Surgical Hospital and OrthoNeuro brought businesses in the health-care industry.

As the business park’s Personal Care and Beauty Campus filled out, the city has shown that it also can be a home for manufacturing and logistics centers, Chrysler said.

Chrysler said CRI’s project is its first in New Albany.

“We’re excited to work with this team,” she said.

By Sarah Sole
From This Week News

The No. 1 community in Central Ohio when it comes to the median home value is about 20 miles away from downtown Columbus and includes a small village with a New England-style downtown full of structures that date to the 1820s.

Read the full article at Columbus Business First »

New Albany residents can expect potential traffic delays near Dublin-Granville Road and Market and Main streets during the summer months of 2018, according to city leaders.

New Albany’s project to refashion the Rose Run creek corridor near the city’s center should take 18 to 24 months to complete, said Adrienne Joly, director of administrative services.

It is representative of multiple initiatives that, though varied in scope and covering such infrastructure as roads and leisure trails, should improve residents’ quality of life, said city spokesman Scott McAfee.

More leisure trails will encourage physical activity, he said, and infrastructure development will promote business activity. The New Albany International Business Park ultimately supports residents through the income-tax revenue it generates, he said.

Rose Run corridor

City leaders should select a construction manager for the Rose Run project during the first three months of 2018 and the project should begin by late spring or early summer, Joly said.

Closure of Dublin-Granville Road from Fodor Road/Market Street to Main Street will be limited to the summer months to minimize disruption for the New Albany-Plain Local School District, she said.

Rose Run flows mostly parallel to Dublin-Granville Road through New Albany until it meets Rocky Fork Creek in the New Albany Country Club grounds, not far west of Greensward and Harlem roads.

Project details include reducing Dublin-Granville in width, although the road will remain two lanes. A 34-foot bridge and promenade will connect the district campus to the New Albany branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library and Market Square.

Although a 5-mile bicycle-trail loop ultimately is planned, the first phase of the project will create a half-mile segment from Fodor Road to Main Street to the east, Joly said. The final version of the loop will feature a bike path and an adjoining walkway.

Also included in the project will be the addition of a children’s natural play area to Rose Run Park and the rerouting of the leisure trail near Rose Run to travel underneath the bridge.

Trails and infrastructure

City leaders plan to update the master plan for its 36 miles of leisure trails this year, Joly said. The plan has not been updated since 2006, Joly said.

New Albany City Council members have allocated $1.8 million for new leisure trails — a considerable amount above the typical allocation of $400,000, she said. The city will try to close gaps in trails for greater connectivity, she said.

As city leaders look to create better thoroughfares for recreation, they also are trying to ensure proper infrastructure is ready for new parts of the New Albany International Business Park.

With the Mink Road-state Route 161 interchange and the extension of Innovation Campus Way complete, more than 170 acres in the business park is available for commercial development, said Jennifer Chrysler, New Albany’s community-development director.

As a $26 million Beech Road construction project begins, the land on the west side of the road will be attractive to developers because infrastructure will be in place, she said.

City leaders hope to have the first phase of utility work completed in March and the road improvements completed in August, Chrysler said. The second phase of utilities should be finished by February 2019.

The project targets Beech Road from Smith’s Mill Road south to Morse Road, Chrysler said, and it includes trails and dedicated bicycle paths.

North of the intersection with Morse Road for about 500 feet, Beech Road will be two lanes with no median, city engineer Mike Barker said. For the next 3,000 feet northbound, the road will be two lanes with a center median, he said. From there to the intersection with Smith’s Mill, Beech will be a four-lane road with a center median, he said.

The project will be funded by tax-increment-financing-district revenue from the new Facebook data-center complex; the city also received a 1 percent interest loan from the Ohio Water Development Authority.

A TIF is an economic-development mechanism available to local governments to finance public-infrastructure improvements and, in certain circumstances, residential rehabilitation, according to the Ohio Development Services Agency.

A TIF locks in the taxable worth of real property at the value it holds at the time the authorizing legislation is approved, diverting resulting incremental revenue to designated uses, such as funding necessary improvements or infrastructure to support a new development.

Revenue that exceeds the locked-in valuation of the land is diverted from the entities that typically receive property-tax revenue, including school districts, parks districts, libraries and fire departments.

In 2017, the city created 1,000 jobs in the community in the fourth quarter alone, Chrysler said.

“It doesn’t appear that we will have any less success in 2018 than we did in 2017,” she said.

By Sarah Sole
From This Week News

New Albany is the best suburb in America — or at least Business Insider, a business-focused website, has put the Columbus suburb on top of its annual list of the “Best 50 Suburbs in America.”

“It speaks to the strength and beauty of our community,” said New Albany spokesman Scott McAfee.

Business Insider cites the 21-minute commute to Columbus, good schools, low crime, recreational and cultural activities, housing affordability and homeownership rates for the ranking.

Four other Columbus suburbs also made the list — Powell, No. 12; Dublin, No. 16; Upper Arlington, No. 26; and Bexley, No. 35.

“It really goes to show how great a place the Columbus region is to live and to work,” McAfee said. “The really interesting thing is that if you look at these five communities, we’re all different.”

In addition to the schools, 30 miles of walking trails and low crime rate, he said many people don’t realize what a job generator the suburb is, with 13,000 people working in a city with fewer than 9,000 residents.

“We’re an aspiration community,” McAfee said. “What’s great personally about working for the city is that the city’s appointed and elected officials are trying to find ways to make things better.”

Things that help New Albany stand out include the presence of Abercrombie & Fitch’s headquarters, a major Discover Card operation and the planned Amazon data center, said Cherie Nelson, executive director of the New Albany Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s always s been a great place to live, and now it’s a great place to work,’’ she said.

Business Insider looked at data on nearly 300 suburbs, focusing on cities with populations of between 5,000 and 100,000 people within about 25 miles of the nearest metro area.

“Our list was dominated by the Midwest, or more specifically, by Ohio suburbs,” the website says. “This is likely due to several factors, most notably a reasonable cost of living.”

Besides the five Columbus suburbs, two Cincinnati suburbs and an Akron suburb made the list.

“It says a lot about the Midwest with great communities and great suburbs people want to move to,” said Megan Canavan, spokeswoman for No. 12 Powell.

By Mark Williams
The Columbus Dispatch

Long gone are the days when people regularly saddled Columbus with the derisive label of “Cowtown.”

Today, the Columbus Region is experiencing a boom in economic development and is at the top of the list of hot spots for brawny national businesses like Amazon or IBM, both of which have committed to major investments here, says Bill Ebbing, president of the New Albany Company.

“Central Ohio has clearly had success bringing companies to the region,” he says. “With the recent announcements of Amazon and IBM, it’s a great opportunity to showcase the region as the next Silicon Valley.”

Online retailer Amazon has announced a $1.1 billion investment would be made in New Albany, Dublin and Hilliard over three years. And IBM opened a Client Center for Advanced Analytics at Tuttle Crossing in 2012. There have been other successes attracting outside businesses here, too.

“We are strong believers in the ongoing opportunity to bring additional mission-critical companies to the region and specifically to New Albany,” Ebbing says. “An even greater opportunity exists for growing the businesses that are located here in the region already.”

The New Albany Company, a community developer focused on economic development and quality of life for the neighborhood, has certainly done its part. Its first home in the area was built in 1991 and the International Business Park was started in 1998, since attracting more than 8 million square feet of development on more than 3,000 acres, providing jobs for 14,000 people.

And the Village Center, which includes Market Square, an arts center, school campus and retail, business and government offices, along with the 55,000-square-foot Philip Heit Center for Healthy New Albany, has also been critical to the economic growth and development in the area. Work continues in the center, Ebbing says.

“It’s the heart and soul of the community. It continues to be a focus and we are expanding the mixed-use nature of the center,” he says. “One of our strengths is our commitment to a master plan to develop the quality of life here for residents, employees and for businesses to locate here.”

Continued development in New Albany and the Columbus Region relies on the collaborative nature of groups like Columbus 2020 and JobsOhio and public-private partnerships, Ebbing says.

“Each partner brings different strengths to the table, providing a formula necessary to close deals like Amazon Web Services,” he says.

The New Albany Company itself is “pretty lean,” with 10 employees who work primarily on planning and design with various consultants, Ebbing says.

Besides the solid collaborative aspects of the region, other keys to continue economic development success will be investments and planning for infrastructure from Downtown to the Outerbelt and a persistency in telling the story of the region, he says.

“Private entities and developers must spend more time planning for growth, which is valued by businesses who want to locate here or grow their business,” Ebbing says. “We are now on the national stage and competitive on a very large scale. We need to keep telling that story nationally and internationally.”

By TC Brown
Columbus CEO

As the stewards of central Ohio’s economic-growth strategy, Columbus 2020 conducts business outreach to companies in the 11-county Columbus region and around the world. We promote the Columbus region and its various communities to growing companies to create awareness and generate local employment opportunities.

Communities, like nations, want healthy economies and jobs for their citizens to maintain and improve their quality of life over the long term. To say that it is a difficult task is an understatement.

Economic and employment growth are required to fund infrastructure and education assets needed to maintain the quality of the community. Finding the right recipe to induce growth in the short term to achieve positive long-term results is, and should be, a dialogue that community leaders — both public and private — consistently have with residents.

Long-term success requires careful planning and, from time to time, tough decisions. Communities have physical and financial constraints that shape these decisions and they must creatively build new opportunities and capacity for future growth. This often requires forgoing some short-term revenue to achieve results, squeezing public finances even in times of great growth.

Providing incentives to help companies expand is necessary to reduce costs and compete with other communities and states also trying to grow and prosper. These incentives can be a powerful tool to build a sustainable tax base and contribute to the area’s economic and cultural diversity.

The use of public and private incentives helps level the playing field with other communities and states that have different tax structures. These incentives can help mitigate costs for businesses and their use is most beneficial when they align with a community’s well-planned development strategy to result in a healthy return on investment.

When incentives are provided, companies locating in our region benefit for a specified time. In return, the communities attracting these companies benefit from increased capital investment and job growth, leading to higher tax revenues to support local services.

The New Albany International Business Park is an excellent example of the economic value generated by attracting businesses that invest in the community and create careers for residents.

These companies have come from all over the world and are helping to fuel local infrastructure development and city and educational services. New Albany’s progressive, forward-leaning philosophy has helped to attract these businesses. It is a good example of the pro-business attitude so many central Ohio communities have developed to compete in the global economy.

The Columbus region has a diverse, growing economy and population base. Growth is poised to continue due to a young, educated workforce, aggressive economic-development efforts and geographic and institutional advantages.

Job creation is a critical factor in moving everyone — our local communities, our region and our state — forward. Communities that actively work to build business partnerships are creating a better region for all of us.

By Kenny McDonald
This Week Community News

Axium Plastics’ expansion in New Albany’s International Personal Care and Beauty Campus has increased in scope, according to local officials.

The expansion project, which is expected to be completed by December, has increased from 90,000 square feet to 158,000 square feet.

Jennifer Chrysler, New Albany’s community-development director, said City Council in March approved a 15-year, 100 percent property-tax abatement on the proposed 90,000-square-foot expansion.

“They need to make the facility larger, which is different than what was approved,” she told City Council on July 7.

City Council on July 7 voted unanimously to amend the agreement to include the increased expansion.

The new expansion plans include “an additional 8,000 square feet of manufacturing space and an additional 60,000 square feet of warehouse space,” according to the legislative report.

Axium also “will commit to create an additional 20 jobs with an annual payroll of $600,000,” the legislative report said.

Axium built a 110,000-square-foot facility in 2011 and expanded by 90,000 square feet in 2012, Chrysler said.

She said the company has exceeded all the city’s benchmarks for the development.

Axium officials said in March the company has more than 200 full-time employees working three shifts and seven days a week at the site. They said the annual payroll is $7.5 million.

“Once complete, the total project (including all expansions) will generate at least $33,500 annually for infrastructure debt service, $30,800 annually for the Johnstown-Monroe school district and $30,800 annually for the city’s general fund. The overall growth of the company has resulted in a $2,000,000 increase in payroll in 2015 from the benchmarks provided in the original two community-reinvestment-area agreements,” according to the legislative report.

Chrysler said Axium officials hope to begin the expansion within the next three weeks.

Axium, based in Mississauga, Ontario, manufactures plastic containers ranging in size from 0.5 ounce to 40 ounces for the food, personal-care, health-care and automotive industries.

Axium officials told City Council the company manufactured 1.6 billion bottles last year at the New Albany facility.

By Lori Wince
This Week Community News

Methodist ElderCare Services hopes to break ground this summer on a $35 million first phase of Wesley Woods, the third retirement community for the organization and its first new campus in 17 years.

Columbus-based Methodist ElderCare has a letter of intent to buy 38 undeveloped acres at the southeast corner of Dublin-Granville and Hamilton roads in Columbus. It will make the purchase from New Albany Co.

The first phase of construction would include eight villa-style residences, a 10-unit hospice center set in the woods and a three-story building with assisted living, independent apartments, a unit for those with memory loss and a one-story nursing home wing.

The goal is to open in late 2017, and future phases could add up to 24 villas.

“We’re a good fit with New Albany – it’s a first-class place,” CEO Margaret Carmany told Columbus Business First. “We were looking everywhere, had done market studies. This was the strongest market available in our opinion … particularly for younger seniors looking for luxury.”

Fitting into Wesley network
The 45-year-old nonprofit organization is working with Akron-based First Merit Bank on a $35 million issue of bank-backed tax-exempt bonds; the financing could include other banks. Besides the borrowing, a lot must happen before breaking ground, including site engineering and building permits from the city and Ohio Department of Health clearance to open a nursing home.

Then there was the matter of endangered bats: Trees on the site had to be removed so the bats would seek different nesting sites this spring.

Westerville-based Corna Kokosing Construction Co. is lead contractor. The designer is Columbus-based Ph7 Architects, a specialist in senior housing.

An affiliate of the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church, Methodist ElderCare opened Wesley Glen Retirement Community in Clintonville in 1969 and built Wesley Ridge in Reynoldsburg in 1998 with independent apartments, adding assisted living capabilities three years later. It also operates a hospice and home health service.

The organization recorded a small surplus on $37 million in revenue last year, Carmany said.

Both Wesley communities have expanded, including a nursing home added at Wesley Ridge and pool and wellness center that opened at Wesley Glen in 2012. The $35 million bond issue will include $3.5 million to add a wellness center at the Reynoldsburg campus this year; Wesley Woods eventually would add one, she said.

Senior living wave
The expansion comes amid a burst of retirement construction after a long lull during the recession:
Michigan-based Granger Group is going through permitting with New Albany for a $35 million, 15-acre campus with independent living villas and assisted living residences at 227 E. Main St.

Upper Arlington-based National Church Residences is planning a Westerville community and also is considering Worthington.

Ohio Presbyterian Retirement Services is adding a second luxury apartment high-rise for seniors at its Westminster-Thurber campus on the edge of downtown Columbus.

Friendship Village of Dublin recently added villas and is adding apartments in an upcoming expansion.

“Continuing care retirement communities are the future for senior living,” Carmany said. “People like to move in before they need the continuum of care, but they want to know (it) will be there if they need it.

“The boomer population is starting to retire and retirement communities are different than they used to be.”

Entry fees and rents are expected to be enough to repay the bonds, Carmany said, and won’t affect the budgets of Wesley Glen or Wesley Ridge.

“It’s a good move. It’s a good long-term strategy,” she said. “We’re in a sound financial position or we wouldn’t be doing it.”

By Carrie Ghose
Columbus Business First