Company plans to add 40 jobs
Dayton’s Norwood Medical building Webster Street facility.
The owners of a medical device manufacturing company proposes spending as much as $23 million to construct and equip a new 35,000-square-foot facility on Webster Street.
The project is expected to create at least 40 new full-time jobs and will continue to expand Norwood Medical’s already sizable footprint in the McCook Field area.
Norwood Medical, one of Dayton’s largest manufacturing employers, has added hundreds of jobs since 2009 and has grown capacity, recently scooping up the former home of Goodwill-Easter Seals Miami Valley, which sits nearby.
“This really reflects Dayton’s continuing resurgence as an industrial, manufacturing city,” said Ford Weber, Dayton’s director of economic development. “It’s really great to see manufacturing jobs coming back into our community.”
KBK Nine Properties LTD plans to create a new facility at 2043 Webster St., across from part of Norwood Medical’s campus.
In August, an affiliate called KBK Webster Properties LTD bought the property for $200,000 from a trucking company. The property is nearly 1.5 acres, according to county auditor records.
KBK Nine is an affiliate of Norwood Medical, which was previously Norwood Tool Co.
The company’s owners are listed as Kenneth Hemmelgarn Jr. and Brian Hemmelgarn, whose family owns Norwood Medical.
Norwood Medical specializes in producing complex medical devices and implants.
The company has multiple buildings in McCook Field and continues to grow its presence and workforce.
The company received a job creation tax credit from the state in 2008 for an expansion project that required the company to add at least 100 jobs and retain 524 positions.
By the end of 2016, that project had met the state’s job-retention requirement and added 480 new jobs, according to state records.
Now, the company proposes adding another 40 fulltime positions, with average annual salaries of $34,000.
Dayton commissioners on Wednesday approved an enterprise zone agreement with KBK Nine Properties that would give it a 75-percent property tax abatement on improvements at 2043 Webster St. for 10 years.
In exchange, the company has agreed to invest at least $4.5 million and as much as $23 million to construct the new manufacturing facility and purchase new machinery, equipment and inventory, according to city documents.
Enterprise zones are a tool of the state of Ohio that benefits cities like Dayton that provide some property tax relief as an incentive for companies to create industrial and commercial jobs, said Weber, with the city.
That section of north Dayton has seen a significant amount of industrial development, and the city continues to attract industrial and commercial investment because its a logistical hotspot with strong geography at the “intersection of America,” Weber said.
“We have a great manufacturing tradition, we have a good skilled workforce and it’s in our DNA to create and make things,” he said.
The company says it will spend $1.2 million to $2 million on the new facility, as well as between $3 million to $20 million on new machinery and equipment, according to city documents. The company also plans to purchase about $300,000 to $1 million worth of inventory.
The project is expected to start after March 1 and wrap up before Dec. 31, 2018. The new facility’s annual payroll is pegged at $1.36 million.
The project is expected to start after March 1 and wrap up before Dec. 31, 2018. The new facility’s annual payroll is pegged at $1.36 million.
In September 2014, Dayton commissioners approved an enterprise zone agreement with KBK Eight Properties for a 75,000-square-foot facility at 2020 and 2042 Webster St.
The agreement called for the affiliate to investment between $7.5 million and $13.5 million into the facility and hire at least 50 fulltime employees.
KBK Eight Properties bought that property in June 2014 for $525,000, according to real estate records.