By the numbers
$1.6 million: Contract awarded by city commission last Tuesday to build infrastructure at the new Champions City Business Park.
$12 million: Approximate amount of state and federal grants and private dollars spent to revitalize the area previously occupied by the International Navistar Inc. auto body plant.
3: Industrial parks in development in the area, including Prime Ohio II, AirPark Ohio and Champion City Business Park, which could help spur job growth in Clark County.
City leaders believe the Champion City Business Park — set to open next summer — could bring 300 to 500 jobs to the area.
The city agreed to an approximately $1.6 million contract to build the infrastructure for the 32-acre light industrial park, planned for the old Navistar International Corp. truck plant site at Lagonda and Belmont avenues.
Since 2003, more than $12 million worth of grants and private dollars have been spent on demolition, remediation, clean-up and infrastructure for the new industrial park.
Champions City Business Park is one of three industrial parks currently in development in Clark County, including AirPark Ohio and Prime Ohio II.
City leaders believe the business park could house anywhere from three to seven light-industrial companies, which could bring up to 500 jobs, according to Tom Franzen, the city’s economic development administrator.
“It makes land available for folks who are ready to expand their business, and I think that’s key,” Franzen said. “In this community as existing companies outgrow their facilities or their lots, and start to look for other places they can grow their business, we want to make sure we have local option available to them, so we don’t lose growing manufacturers or growing companies.”
Franzen said the industrial park “opens the opportunity” for more businesses to come to Springfield.
“The idea is to have within our market various lot sizes that appeal to different types of manufacturers or different companies,” Franzen said. “These are going to offer smaller sites for smaller companies to a mix of light manufacturing to maybe logistics as well. It’s nice to have a balanced portfolio of properties available for businesses who may be looking to expand.”
Horton Hobbs, vice president of economic development for the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, said the new business park is another asset for the community. He believes the completion of the three projects will help bring more businesses and jobs to the area.
“Our existing industrial parks are full in many cases,” Hobbs said. “Now’s the time to be investing in these assets when the investments are going to be occurring. We really see that happening over the next one to three years. We really see an increase on the horizon.”
He said his office receives calls every week about local companies interested in expansion and new businesses hoping to move to the area.
“These assets give us an opportunity to meet those needs and demands over the years to come,” Hobbs said. “Based on the activity and the conversations we’ve had, those investments are definitely being planned and after the first of the year, you’re going to see those investments occurring.”
The development of new businesses in the Champions park would also bring with it more property taxes for the city schools. Currently, only one of the four other business parks in Clark County — the Springfield Industrial Park on Leffel Lane — is located within the school city district boundaries.
“It’s taking unproductive land within the city school district and making it available for industrial development, which we haven’t had in a long time,” Franzen said. “This is really the first industrial park that’s been developed inside the city and inside the city school district in quite some time. We’re excited about the opportunity to start producing some revenue that benefits the city school district.”
City commission agreed to the emergency ordinance with J&J Schaegel Inc. of Urbana at Tuesday’s meeting with hopes of getting the project started as soon as possible.
The infrastructure project will create the a new road called McGregor’s Way — named in honor of the McGregor family and their contributions to the community — through the south of the property. The city will also install new water, sewer and electric lines.
“The hope here is to get some of the earth work done before the end of the year, and hopefully in the spring we can finish up with paving, sidewalks and the installation of lights and all the other things that are necessary,” Franzen said.
Approximately $1.3 million of the infrastructure project will be funded by an Ohio Department of Development grant.
Last October, the site was deemed clean and ready for development by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. The city had utilized about $2.5 million in state and federal grants as well as private funds from Navistar to remediate the site, which included tearing down the old body plant.
“Getting it back into a productive use is something everyone is going to be happy to see,” Franzen said.
Bryan Heck, the city’s planning and zoning administrator, said work on the site could begin in early December with utility work beginning in the spring.
Once that’s completed, the lot will be ready for prospective companies. Heck said the three initial lots will cover 28.5 acres of land and will have the ability to be subdivided into smaller lots.
“It keeps flexibility for new companies wanting to come in and subdivide out,” Heck said. “It provides us the maximum flexibility by leaving it in three larger lots.”
Heck, who’s been working on the project since he started with the city in 2006, is glad the project is starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“It’ll be great to see development occur on this property,” Heck said. “We’re not done yet. Putting the road and infrastructure is vital to getting companies to locate here. The next step is having companies purchase the lots and starting developing here. I want to see that through.”
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