The Avalanche is not coming … the Avalanche is here (and been here)!

In a recent Newark Advocate article, a local councilman was quoted as saying “ …because we’ve been talking about for at least six years the avalanche [is] coming…" but if you look around, the avalanche has been here for years!

Since joining GROW Licking County in 2015 as executive director, one of Nathan Strum’s regular mantras has been to focused on communities with inventory (sites and buildings), industry-focused infrastructure capacities, and a strategy to promote growth as well as diversify tax base (i.e. preparedness) would win the deals. This trend is clearly evident when you look at the growth of development in many of the key communities in Licking County such as the City of Heath, Etna Township, the Villages of Johnstown & Hebron or more commercially focused opportunities such as those seen in the Village of Granville or City of Newark.

But there are trends and then there are stats.

Figure 1

In looking at the recent CBRE Columbus Industrial Marketview for Q4 - 2020, Licking County made up 30% of all construction activity in the market outpacing Southeast (Rickenbacker) by 7% and Madison County by 10% (figure 1).

More importantly, when looking at the Net Absorption for 2020, Licking County made up of nearly 20% of all absorption in the region (out of 13 total submarkets) (figure 2). These numbers reflect many of the projects announced last year — including large-scale projects such as Amazon & Ashley Furniture — as well as smaller scale projects throughout many of our communities.

And we are not done, yet.

Figure 2

In looking at our pipeline for 2021, we see continued interest by existing employers to expand their footprints/operations, locate new operations in Licking County, as well as multiple speculative (spec) projects in our key markets of Etna, Johnstown, Heath, & Hebron-area. Beyond these tangible assets, we continue to see communities looking out into the future of growth — in preparation of “what’s next” including our partners at the Village/Township of Granville, City of Heath, Village of Johnstown, City of Newark, and Village of Hebron.

So, how can your community prepare for the continued growth trend? Easy. Let’s chat!

Feel free to contact with the GLC Team to talk about what you envision for growth in your community and be sure to check out the toolkit to help inform your local leaders on the various trends, resources, and tools in the EconDev toolbox by visiting ED-101 page!

Want to hear what others think? Licking County was recently highlighted by Expansion Solutions Magazine’s on this exact topic. Read it here.