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Four communities in running for GE facility
Saturday, May 31, 2008
WEST CHESTER TWP. — A planned 400,000-square-foot, $75 million GE Aviation engineering facility will be located in one of four locations, possibly West Chester Twp.
Just who winds up with the prize may come down to aggressive salesmanship.
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GE spokesman Rick Kennedy said West Chester Twp., Evendale, Springdale and a location in Boone County, Ky., are the potential homes of a consolidated office that will house almost 1,600 GE Aviation employees with a total annual payroll of about $140 million.
"Right now we have engineers located in different buildings around Springdale," he said. "To have them in one single campus would be an advantage."
Kennedy added that the company's lease on its Springdale buildings ends in late 2009, making the timing right for a possible move. The announcement of consolidation plans earlier this year sparked competition among potential locations, he said.
"People have been very aggressive in coming to us," he said.
While city officials from Springdale and Evendale declined to comment for this story, officials at the Ohio Department of Development confirmed that West Chester Twp. and at least one other community have filed for waivers of the state enterprise zone relocation restrictions, a step required before the company could move employees.
"We are always proactive in looking for high-tech and engineering companies coming to the area that will keep good jobs here and keep money cycling in Butler County," said West Chester Twp. Trustee Lee Wong. Trustee Catherine Stoker added that the township is hoping the amenities of the Union Centre area, across Interstate 75 from the proposed relocation site at 9267 Cincinnati-Dayton Road, provide a winning attraction to GE Aviation.
"For any company, work force development is a real issue," she said. "For a lot of employees, that means a community that's safe, has a good school district, and has amenities."
Butler County Development Director Brian Coughlin said the West Chester Twp. site has a lot to offer, but "it all really comes down to what are the specific needs of GE Aircraft Management, and we aren't privy to that."
If the company goes elsewhere, it likely will take a couple hundred jobs currently in West Chester Twp.
"At the end of the day, whoever wins, we hope it's one of those southwest Ohio sites," Coughlin said.
No official date has been announced for GE Aviation to make its final decision, though paperwork filed with ODOD indicates the company would like to start construction in August, with the new facility opening in January 2010.
Staff Writer Josh Sweigart contributed to this report.
