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New tenant highlights growth at The Point
Engines Inc., is one of the currenet occupants at The Point, an industrial park in South Point.
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IRONTON -- The announcement of another company coming into The Point, a South Point industrial park, is just another indication that the job situation in Lawrence County has increased fourfold in the past 25 years and also is a bellwether of better things to come, said Bill Dingus, executive director of the Lawrence Economic Development Corporation.
Merciers Inc., a Baltimore, Md., area company, is expanding to Lawrence County and hiring 40 employees. The company has bought a 4.75-acre parcel at The Point and is planning to open an office at the industrial park within a week and build a 10,000 square foot building off County Road 1, Dingus said. The number of jobs could increase to about 100 within a year and to 150 to 175 in three years, according to a company official.
The company does vegetation control for industries, utilities and railroads, Jeremy Clay, director of the industrial park, said. "There's a massive amount of railroad work in this area."
Merciers will start construction on a new building at The Point later this summer and could be ready to move in late this year or early next year, Dingus said. "This company provides diversity and the potential for growth," he said. "It's just another piece of the puzzle."
"People need to realize we're not stuck in 1984 when the unemployment rate was around 20 percent," said Lawrence County Commissioner Jason Stephens. "We have 28,300 people working in Lawrence County. That's as many jobs as Jackson County and Gallia County combined. I'm just really excited about Merciers coming to The Point. But Lawrence County has been holding its own on the job front for a while now."
The county's unemployment rate was 5 percent in May, 12th best among 88 Ohio counties, Stephens said. "Our unemployment rates in recent months are as good as they've ever been."
Merciers will be the eighth company to locate in the 500-acre industrial park. About 250 jobs are located in the industrial park, about half of them with one company, Engines, Inc. Engines Inc. took the first two shell buildings in the industrial park. A third shell building, a 33,000 square foot building, should be ready by October and plans are in the works for a fourth shell building next year, Dingus said.
Other companies in the plant include M&M Mailing, Applied Technologies, M&M Services and Mid Valley Supply. Superior Marine, Pyrochem, 7-UP and Quality Carriers also are within the park boundaries, Clay said.
"We have a lot of interest in the industrial park right now," Clay said. "We have two other companies we're working with right now. Only time will tell if they'll locate here."
Meanwhile, the industrial park is ready to start marketing the third shell building, he said. "It's built to have one to four tenants."
"The Point is just a small piece of what is going on," Dingus said Thursday. The area between Hanging Rock in Lawrence County and Wheelersburg in Scioto County has about 3,000 acres of prime industrial land that already houses hundreds of industrial jobs and could be the home of hundreds more if a Russian steel company follows through with plans to build a new steel plant, he said.
The area already has companies like Sun Coke, Dow Chemical, Duke Power, Rumpke Recycling. Another company, Chatham Steel, has applied through the Lawrence County Board of Commissioners for a state grant to get access to a railroad spur in the Hanging Rock area. That company could provide 50 to 60 jobs, Stephens said.
Both the Point and the area between Hanging Rock and Wheelersburg have access to the river, rail and a four-lane highway, Dingus said.
AEP also could consolidate some local operations at The Point, Dingus said. "There wouldn't be any new jobs, but there is the potential for growth over time," he said.
Another company could locate in the Burlington area this summer and bring in about 125 jobs, he said.
"There are a lot of good things going on right now," he said.
