Official relays 400 jobs coming

Project still hush-hush in former Spiegelsberg Orchard development

Lorain County Administrator Jim Cordes said Feb. 26 a new company planning to take over the former location of Spiegelberg Orchard will bring at least 400 jobs to the area.

An ongoing project between Elyria, Elyria Township and Lorain will move forward in two phases in order to add sewer service to the 124acre site at 6161 Middle Ridge Road in Elyria Township with additional work to follow.

The county will install sewers and traffic upgrades with tax incremental financing, he said.

“I can tell you that after probably a year or two ramping into this, there will be at least 400 plus jobs,” Cordes said.

“And we’re very excited about that,” Cordes said. “We met with the company Tuesday for extensive period of time. Everything’s tracking nicely. There’s some other things we have to take care of. We’ve got to get some turn lanes, stoplights, et cetera.

“So, we’re moving through the issues, but we need to get tax incremental financing done,” he said.

Agreements in place

The sewer and joint economic development agreements for the project are in place, Cordes said.

Under the proposed agreement, the city of Lorain will provide sanitary sewer service, he said.

And the city of Elyria will provide water for the site, Cordes said.

The business would have an income tax rate of 2.5 percent, he said.

For the income tax collections, 25 percent would go to Elyria Township and 75 percent would go to the

city of Lorain.

Lorain County remains under a non-disclosure agreement with the company and unable to reveal who will be moving into the area.

Commissioner Matt Lundy asked the community to exercise patience as the board continues to honor the non-disclosure agreement.

“Until the company is ready it to be disclosed, we’re honoring this agreement,” Lundy said. “It’s so important when you work on economic development projects to have the trust and assurance of companies or corporations that you’re working with.

“Otherwise, businesses don’t want to come into your community and do business with you.”

When company is released from its non-disclosure agreement, it will seek to make an announcement at the appropriate time.

“I would hope that we would have a joint announcement because this is probably one of the best examples you’re ever going to find of a true partnership of governmental leaders, whether it’s at the county level, local level, the township level, the city level, the state level, you name it all across the board,” Lundy said. “And it’s one of these things that you’ll learn more about workings behind the scenes.

“I can’t say enough good things about our county administrator who played a major role in a lot of these negotiations.”

The total investment from the company would be around $35 million.

Cordes said everything remains on track and the company continues to do its due diligence on the property

A groundbreaking ceremony is expected to take place at some point in 2020.

“This is not Ford (Motor Co.) announcing thousands of jobs, but this is probably the biggest one we’ve had in a long, long time,” Cordes said. “And I believe it will be well in excess of 400 (jobs) in the first three years of operation out there.

“But we’ve got to get it built, though. We’ve got to get it here.”