Feel the Impact, Part Two

Hire a local engineer. Go out to bids and select the lowest bidder, which also happens to be a local contractor. Work with that contractor to find its materials and its subcontractors from local sources. Then, put a spotlight on the multi-level economic impact of the $3 million project.

That was the formula for the Made in Licking County Bridge road and bridge project that the Port Authority opened in September 2009. We counted 30 companies and over 130 workers with Licking County ties who worked on the project.

Thus, the economic impact from the project was not only that money was spent to build infrastructure that would open up land for development in the future but also, in the short term, people would be employed locally to make the project happen.

The ribbon had barely endured its cut when work began on our second project in as many years with potential for a reverberation in the local economy.

Call it "Part Two" of the feel the impact story.

Last October, we hired Wachtel and McAnally, a local architect with offices in downtown Newark, to design a 43,400 s.f. office and clean room building.

After getting out to bids for financing and construction in April, we can declare the local aspect of the project continues. Ground was broken last week.

Park National Bank, headquartered in Newark, was the most competitive financing proposal as part of a $4.85 million bond issue.

Robertson Construction of Heath was the winning bidder on the construction contract with a $3.4 million bid on the building and buildout for our first occupant--Goodrich.

This building will be a LEED-certified shell building which requires a good percentage of the materials be sourced from local and regional sources. We'll be looking for local subcontractors to get the work too.

And we'll be tracking it to report to the community, again, how many people and how many companies from Licking County touched this project and felt its impact.