DAYTON, Ohio — A confidential food processing project that would invest $100 million and create 178 jobs leads a field of five Montgomery County economic development proposals now seeking a combined $400,000 in county funding, the Dayton Daily News reported Wednesday.
The proposal, known only as Project Porter, would build a new 100,000-square-foot food processing facility somewhere in Montgomery County, according to the Dayton Daily News. The company behind it has not been named and its exact location has not been released, but its 178 jobs account for nearly three-quarters of the 239 new jobs tied to this round of applications under the county’s Economic Development/Government Equity — ED/GE — program.
Montgomery County Community & Economic Development received the five applications by the November 2 deadline, the Dayton Daily News reported. Representatives of each community will present their proposals at a November 16 ED/GE meeting, and the program’s advisory committee will develop funding recommendations later this month.
The other four applicants show the range of the program. In Dayton, APS Materials is seeking $80,000 toward a $2.85 million project that would revitalize the former Mike-Sells potato chip factory and expand the Harrison Township-headquartered company, creating 16 jobs. Glasshouse Realty is also seeking $80,000 to renovate the historic 1880 Armory building in downtown Dayton and bring it to modern code, a project expected to create 23 jobs.
In Moraine, Summit Industries is seeking $65,000 toward a $2 million purchase of a permanent facility — it has outgrown leased space in Kettering — with upgrades and a reconfigured production floor expected to add 14 jobs. In Brookville, Fibre Glast is seeking $75,000 for an expansion adding production and storage space and a new dock door, with eight new jobs expected; the company supplies the aerospace and wind power industries, according to the Dayton Daily News.
ED/GE is funded by countywide sales tax proceeds and has a long track record: since 1992 the county has awarded more than $112 million to 583 projects, which the county estimates retained more than 40,000 jobs and created 36,000 more, the Dayton Daily News reported. The county set aside $1.25 million for the program this year and awarded $625,000 in its spring cycle.
What happens next is the November 16 presentations to the ED/GE Advisory Committee — a 15-member body drawn from cities, villages, townships and the private sector, along with County Commissioners Mary A. McDonald and Judy Dodge — followed by funding recommendations later this month. For Project Porter, those recommendations will be the first public test of how far the county is willing to go to land its biggest prospect of the year.
Photo: Blervis, CC BY