“A lot of these companies have planned to expand for a while,” Hamet said.
She said it benefits the city by increasing property taxes, jobs and “economic buying power” for retail, restaurants and entertainment. The companies are responding to growing demand and higher energy prices that have them looking for ways to control costs with updated equipment, she said. Yankee Road is also attractive for its rail access.
Most recently Pilot Chemical Co., a Sharonville-based company with a location at 3439 Yankee Road, said it’s considering a more than $40 million expansion at Middletown or another one of its facilities. To encourage the local choice, Pilot received more than $1 million in state tax credits and Middletown property tax abatements. A decision is expected this week. Ohio Department of Transportation also picked Pilot’s Yankee Road site to launch its area 2012 construction season and highlight plans to target road construction projects with job creation potential. Work has started on an approximately $4 million expansion of Yankee Road.
Meanwhile Metal-Matic, a Minnesota company considering the purchase of one of the former MISA Metals buildings on Made Drive off Yankee Road could also make an announcement this week regarding the location.
Some, but not all, of the growth is related to AK Steel, Hamet said. Its steel plant Middletown Works is the city’s largest employer of approximately 2,100 people. West Chester Twp.-based AK Steel is one of the region’s largest companies by annual revenues of more than $6 billion.
For example, SunCoke Energy completed construction and began operating in 2011 an approximately $400 million coke plant to supply AK Steel a key raw material. The 3353 Yankee Road plant added more than 100 jobs.
Air Products and Chemicals Inc. has a proposed project with AK Steel to build a $310 million cogeneration plant to capture waste gas from the blast furnace of Middletown Works and convert it to steam and electricity. After suspending the project in 2011 for environmental regulation and cost reasons, the project was recently put back on the drawing board. Ohio Sen. Bill Coley, R-Liberty Twp., introduced a state legislative amendment for blast furnace waste gas to be considered renewable energy, which will benefit project costs. It was signed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich April 13.
Provisions of a $30 million federal Department of Energy grant require a commitment to construction by mid-summer, according to the companies.
In addition, Air Products is currently doing an $80 million expansion of its existing Middletown facility, 2500 Yankee Road, to upgrade its equipment and infrastructure. AK Steel is its largest customer.
“We have a large customer base here and we’re trying to supply them,” said plant manager Lyle McDaniel. “Our customer base has grown and we have opportunities for others, but we had to do the increase to go after more.”
MTR Martco, 3350 Yankee Road, broke ground in March on an approximately $1.5 million expansion. MTR manufactures metal components for the paper and steel industries, including AK Steel.
NCI Metal Coaters of Houston, Texas, started hiring for about 70 jobs with a job fair in March. It first bought a metal coating plant in 2010 at 2400 Yankee Road. NCI plans to open the Middletown location in 2013 to supply its building material business in other states painted metal products.
Illinois-based All World Machinery Supply, 1821 Yankee Road, a machine part supplier for automated manufacturers, opened its first Ohio location in Middletown June 2011. This year it will add two employees for five total and might add a building to offer machine tool repair service, said Mark Bassett, northeast regional manager.
“Middletown happens to be a pretty convenient choice for us. It was either between the southwest region of Ohio or the northeast region,” Bassett said. “The Cincinnati/Dayton area, we have a lot of customers down here and we know there’s a significant amount of manufacturing.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or clevingston@coxohio.com. Follow this reporter on Twitter @ChelsLevingston.
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