Ohio Receives Top Rankings

For the second year in a row Ohio received top ranking from Site Selection’s 2020 Governor’s Cup! Ohio finished first for per capita facilities meaning Ohio had the most qualifying industrial base projects that met Site Selection’s criteria, per capita. The qualifying criteria includes a minimum investment of $1,000,000, creation of 20+ new full time jobs or leasing or purchasing 20,000 square foot or more space.

Despite unprecedented circumstances in 2020, Licking County and Ohio have been able to weather to storm in part due to a diverse economy and continued economic and population growth.

Four of the top 25 projects in the state list took place in Licking County, with a total of $1.5 billion in investment for the county. These projects include one data center expansion, the location of a new datacenter and a new Amazon distribution facility in New Albany as well as the $80,000,000 expansion of Packaging Corporation of American in Newark.

Overall, Licking County saw great diversity in the nine wins in 2020. Five communities felt the impact of expanding or attracting businesses. Two expansions this year included companies with long-time ties to the county including a fifth generation food manufacturer expanding their reach to pivot against Covid.

Governor DeWine has noted that workforce programs will expand as Ohio continues to work through the pandemic. Early in the pandemic Licking County created the C-TEC Edge training program providing free upskilling to those displaced by COVID from eliminated industries into manufacturing. To read more on C-TEC Edge, click here.

Site Selection Magazine awards the Governor’s Cup annually, ranking cities, states and communities by new and expanded facilities and is sited as “the industry scoreboard” by many in the corporate real estate industry. For more information on the Governor’s Cup, click here.