Council votes again on P&G deal
Mason City Council on March 17 held a special meeting and approved taxpayer-funded financial incentives for The Procter & Gamble Co., and the consumer good giant’s plans to build a new $300 million Beauty Innovation Center at its existing Mason Business Center.
After questions about whether the city properly provided notice of the March 17 meeting including letting citizens know the purpose of the meeting, city council voted again Monday (March 23) at its regularly scheduled meeting “for an abundance of caution,” said Law Director Jeff Forbes. “I want absolutely no procedural concerns hanging over an otherwise exciting step forward for the region.”
The incentives were approved again.
“If something procedurally was called into question, so be it. We’ll rectify it,” said Councilman Jim Fox.
— Chelsey Levingston, Staff Writer
A growing talent pool of young professionals — working as engineers, researchers and scientists — is helping Mason retain its growing businesses, and with every new expansion the city lands, is helping the city build its workforce to lure more new companies, city leaders claim.
One of the most commonly cited reasons for why companies choose to expand somewhere is a skilled workforce as well as financial incentives and proximity to other operations.
Companies want to know that where they choose to expand or start operations, there will be workers with the skills to fill the jobs they create, said Michele Blair, Mason’s economic development director.
Intelligrated, an advanced manufacturer and designer of material handling equipment, is considering another expansion of its headquarters in Mason that involves constructing a new Class A office building and creating hundreds of new jobs.
Mason Mayor David Nichols said Intelligrated and others such as Procter & Gamble, Mitsubishi Electric and Assurex Health wouldn’t be announcing new expansions in the Warren County city if they were worried about finding job candidates.
“Success breeds success,” Nichols said.
Intelligrated’s expansion plans represent the third time the logistics supplier has expanded in Mason since its founding in 2001, according to the city.
Previously, the company completed an expansion in January 2013 of its headquarters on Innovation Way. When state and local governments offered Intelligrated tax and other financial incentives for that project, the company’s goal was to reach approximately 510 Mason employees by 2017. According to Nichols and Blair, the company has already met that goal.
Now, Intelligrated wants to build a new three-story, more than 80,000-square-foot office building on its 14-acre Mason campus, an approximately $12 million investment, according to city records. The building would also have a level for parking.
The expansion would create about 238 new jobs paying an average $70,000 a year, according to a city government staff report.
“We are well-positioned in Mason and Ohio to attract the millennial talent we’ll need to fill the 238 additional positions we are adding,” said Chris Cole, Intelligrated chief executive officer, in a written statement.
City Council approved at Monday’s meeting a $400,000 forgiveable loan to Intelligrated from the Mason Port Authority; the loan requires the company meet and sustain employment targets to be forgiven. Also approved was a 15-year, 100 percent abatement on property taxes for improvements made as a result of the expansion. It would require the company make annual payments to Mason City School District in lieu of taxes, according to the city.
Currently, the logistics equipment maker has about 2,600 employees total worldwide including about 1,350 in Butler and Warren counties. In addition to the Mason headquarters, Intelligrated operates four manufacturing plants in West Chester Twp. and London, Ohio; St. Louis, Mo.; and Danville, Ky. A second West Chester Twp. warehouse facility fills orders from customers for replacement parts. Also, Intelligrated has sales and service offices throughout the country and in Brazil, Canada, China and Mexico.
The growth of online retailing is boosting sales at Intelligrated, Cole recently told this news outlet. Thanks to an e-commerce boom, more retailers — both brick-and-mortar and online sellers — are opening distribution centers to fill Internet orders, he said. Those centers use conveyor systems, sorting machines, order picking technologies and other product-moving equipment made by Intelligrated.
Additionally, Intelligrated, supplies package delivery companies and manufacturers. It designs the software that manages the material handling systems and does installation and service.
All told, Intelligrated grew from sales of $378 million in 2010 to $583 million in 2013, according to the company.
Intelligrated is the latest in a string of business expansions to be announced this year in Mason. Personalized medicine company Assurex Health in January announced plans to stay put in Mason, and build a new headquarters and laboratory including manufacturing operations in the city. Assurex Health, which already has approximately 240 employees, could add 150 more as a result of the project over the next three years, according to private development agency REDI Cincinnati.
Also, Mitsubishi Electric Automotive America Inc. is planning yet another expansion at its Mason facilities where it makes starters and alternators, which could create 100 new jobs. Mitsubishi was considering breaking ground on construction this month, which would mark the eighth time the auto supplier has expanded in the city since first opening in Warren County in 1987.
Last week, Mason's largest employer, The Procter & Gamble Co., announced with the city on March 17 it will build a new $300 million Beauty Innovation Center in Mason, and relocate approximately 1,150 research and development staff from Blue Ash to Warren County as part of the project. The new research center will be built on Procter & Gamble's existing 240-acre campus in Mason along Mason-Montgomery Road. P&G will close the Blue Ash location and work with Blue Ash to sell the property, a P&G spokesman said.
“One of the strongest things we’ve been able to do in our economic development program… is really learn how to become a part of a company’s growth strategy,” Blair, Mason’s economic development director, said.
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