Tax breaks could add 600 jobs to region

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DAYTON — Six hundred new jobs could be coming to the Dayton-Springfield area following action Monday by the state board that approves tax breaks for economic development projects.

The Ohio Tax Credit Authority on Monday approved a combined $1.7 million in tax credits for two companies that are looking to either expand their current operations or move operations here.

The Ohio Tax Credit Authority Monday approved a $923,000 of tax credits for the BWI Group, a maker of automotive chassis, brake and suspension systems to bring about 100 new engineering and corporate jobs to Kettering’s Miami Valley Research Park while retaining more than 200 existing area jobs.

State and local incentives for the project total $2.6 million.

The $20 million project, which Kettering and Montgomery County officials have pursued for more than a year, would include a 160,000-square-foot building at the park for the consolidation of three U.S. BWI locations, said Bruce Pearson, president and chief executive of the research park.

BWI also is known as BeijingWest Industries Co. In late 2009, the company acquired Delphi’s brake and suspension components business, helping Delphi exit bankruptcy.

BWI will decide within two to three months whether to accept the tax credit package and commit to locating at the research park, said Gregory Dronen, global facilities director for BWI Group.

The authority also approved nearly $800,00 in tax credits that could help bring more than 500 new, full-time jobs to Springfield.

Thirty-One Gifts plans to add the jobs within three years at a manufacturing and distribution center in Springfield. The company plans to locate in the former O-Cedar plant along Interstate 70.

The move will allow Thirty-One to keep up with the growing demand for its products, which includes embroidered handbags and various home and gift items.