ASHLAND – Ashland City Council approved three tax incentive agreements Tuesday, paving the way for expansions of three businesses– CrossFit 419, Akron Children’s Hospital and Pioneer National Latex.
The city has agreed to 50-percent tax abatements for 10 years for Primal Fitness, Springfield Properties Group and Hillsdale Development Group. In exchange, the three businesses are agreeing to invest $5.2 million in relocation or expansion projects and to create 11 to 12 additional full time jobs and 20 part-time positions.
Primal Fitness intends to relocate CrossFit 419 from its current location in an old 12,000 square foot warehouse on Sherman Avenue to a new building 20,000 square foot building it plans to construct on Commerce Parkway.
Developer Springfield Properties Group plans to build a new free-standing medical building on George Road for Akron Children’s Hospital, allowing the hospital to expand out of its current location within a University Hospitals building off Mifflin Avenue.
Hillsdale Development Group, which owns the land and buildings used by Pioneer National Latex, plans to build a new warehouse building at the corner of Union and Fourth streets and to construct a new roof on an existing building for the balloon manufacturer.
Ashland Area Economic Development Executive Director Kathy Goon said these three expansions are part of a larger trend the area has been seeing in the past few years.
“We keep saying that Ashland right now is a great place to be– not just the city, but the entire county,” Goon said. “We are getting a lot of traction, and we’re going to ride this train as long as we can for companies that want to come in and businesses that want to expand and construct.”
In 2016, AAED helped facilitate five tax abatement agreements to encourage more than $8 million in investments in the community. Last year, the area had four agreements with companies investing more than $23 million.
“You’re seeing every industry,” Goon said. “You’re seeing service, you’re seeing warehouse, you’re seeing retail and you’re seeing manufacturing, and you’re growing your community.”
Goon asked council members to view abatements not as a loss of potential tax revenue but as a way of growing the tax base.
“There’s a misnomer out there that if we don’t collect all of the taxes that somebody in the community has to make up those taxes. No. This is all new money coming in,” she said.
For example, Goon said, Primal Fitness will still pay about $12,670 a year in property taxes, compared the the $600 a year the city would receive if the land remained undeveloped. If the same project were completed without a tax incentive, the company would pay about $25,000 in taxes each year.
Springfield Properties will pay about $29,042 per year in property taxes, and Hillsdale Development Group will pay about $7,921, according to Goon.
Primal Fitness plans to invest $1,360,000 in the new CrossFit and gym facility and promises to add two or three full-time positions as well as 20 part-time personal trainer or group trainer positions.
CrossFit 419 owner Craig Nolletti told the council he opened his Ashland gym three and a half years ago in a 4,000 square foot space on Union Street. Six months later, he had already outgrown the first location and decided to move to a warehouse on Sherman Avenue.
“Last summer, we doubled the space there,” Nolletti said. “Now we’re pretty much out of room and out of parking, so we decided we were in a position to try to build our own facility and make it even bigger.”
These days, Nolletti has about 240 CrossFit members and about 520 24-hour gym members in Ashland.
With the new construction, Nolletti plans to expand his gym from 12,000 to 20,000 square feet. He plans to break ground next week.
Developer Mike Whisler of Springfield Properties said his company will build a standalone primary care facility at the corner of George Road and Eagle Way and lease the building to Akron Children’s Hospital.
Springfield intends to invest $3,340,000 in the project, and Akron Children’s is committing to adding three new full-time positions — a physician, a registered nurse and a secretary.
“With this building, they will be expanding their footprint in Ashland with ability on the site to possibly expand in the future,” Whisler said. “This will immediately allow them to add one physician, but the plan is to maybe add more and some specialty care down the road.”
Whisler said Akron Children’s surveyed its patients and found they preferred the George Road site over other potential locations. The developer said he also views the growing U.S. 250 corridor as a strong area for development.
Hillsdale Development Group plans to invest $500,000-$750,000 in property development for Pioneer National Latex, allowing the company to create six new full-time positions and retain its existing 111 full-time employees.
Pioneer National Latex Plant Superintendent Boone Bunn said the new warehouse at the corner of Union and Fourth Streets and the new roof for an existing building will allow the company to meet growing demand for its product– balloons and punch balls.
Bunn said 86 percent of the company’s business is from Walmart, and the company recently reached an agreement to increase its sales volume with the superstore. The new space will also accommodate more shipping out of Ashland, which will be needed as the company is expanding its business internationally and recently acquired a foil balloon company.
