City expects 272 new jobs from recent development moves

In a new You Tube video, Vandalia city leaders say they expect great things at a former Veolia Water building recently purchased by a Florida bio-medical company.

City officials also look for good things to happen on Stop Eight Road, where another business may soon invest.

Last summer, Alachua, Fla.-based AxoGen Inc. bought a Vandalia industrial building in the Scholz Industrial Park, 913 Industrial Park Drive.

The bio-medical company makes nerve grafts.

On the company's behalf, the city of Vandalia last year requested a $350,000 in Montgomery County development grant to support the move, Amber Holloway, Vandalia assistant city manager, noted in a new You Tube video. The county awarded $250,000.

The grant is the “push” the company needs to locate in the city, she said.

“They would be bringing 228 jobs to the city of Vandalia,” Holloway said in the video. “So this is really great news.”

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AxoGen describes itself as being a “global leader in developing and marketing innovative surgical solutions for peripheral nerves.”

It already has a presence in the Dayton area, having worked in the Community Blood Center in downtown Dayton, where AxoGen employees lease space, Diane Wilson, the center’s chief operating officer, told the Dayton Daily News in August.

On Stop Eight Road, another as-yet unnamed company is also forming plans, Holloway added in the video.

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That company would be located at 3345 Stop Eight, where water purification company AmeriWater is located today, she said. AmeriWater would remain in that building if the new company follows through with a purchase of the site.

That still anonymous company was awarded $150,000 in county development funds.

“They would be bringing 44 jobs, but we feel that number is really conservative, and you’re probably looking more into the 50s,” Holloway said in the “Focus Vandalia” video.

The recent county money awarded to Vandalia represents the most money awarded to the city in the 30-year history of the county ED/GE (Economic Development/Government Equity) program, according to the city.

Said Holloway: “$400,000 is a lot of money … We’re working with companies that are going to bring good jobs here for our residents. It’s going to enhance the economics of the county overall.”

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