Looking Deeper at "The List"

On the Columbus Business First annual list of Top 25 Largest Industrial Parks in Central Ohio published today, Licking County stands out.  It proves, once again, Licking County is an economic development leader in Central Ohio.

The list measures total square footage of buildings in the reported parks as its ranking.  Licking County wasn't the largest.  Dig a little deeper, though, and the data on this list shows Licking County is a top performer on the list.

For the third year in a row, the list contains five industrial parks in Licking County.   Look a little deeper.  This distinction proves Licking County remains the leader and most prolific for development among the non-urban counties in the region.

Also, once again, the combination of Southgate's Newark Ohio Industrial Park (#3), the Port Authority's Aerospace Center (#14), and Mid-Ohio's Mid Ohio Industrial Park (#25) coupled with the McMillen Woods park on the west end of Newark adds up to the largest manufacturing corridor in Central Ohio.

The list, when you look deeper, contains the proof.

The combination of build-out property matches that of the #1 largest park on the Business First list while also closely matching the land holdings.  The difference, though, is the client list of these four parks are mostly manufacturers.  Boeing, Bayer, Dow, WS Packaging, Kaiser, and countless other well-known names top the list.

This corridor, which encompasses State Route 79 to Interstate 70, is also a hub of innovation and product development for a diverse cluster of the advanced materials industry.  But that story's for another blog.