Licking County manufacturing sites attract newcomers

NEWARK – Manufacturers come and go in every community, but they keep coming to Licking County in large numbers.

Heath, Hebron, Newark, Pataskala, Etna Township and New Albany have land and buildings available, attracting new industry to the county.

In fact, Licking County has available more industrial buildings of at least 50,000 square feet than Fairfield, Delaware, Knox, Logan, Madison, Marion, Morrow and Pickaway counties combined, according to Columbus 2020.

The industrial parks in Licking County bring in manufacturers to fill spec buildings, new demand builds and existing facilities.

Newcomers have helped make up for manufacturers lost either years ago or during the recent recession.

"Licking County has a long, rich tradition of being a manufacturing hub for various items," Heath Mayor Mark Johns said. "As the years go by, the manufacturing businesses and what is produced may change, but the skill set and work ethic of people in Licking County doesn't change.

"Manufacturers looking for a place to start up or expand are going to be drawn to be drawn to a community with those kind of attributes."

So, although companies like Owens Corning, Holophane and Longaberger don't employ what they once did, and others have long since left, newcomers like Goodyear, Ariel, L Brands, xperion, KDC and Prologis will help continue the county's manufacturing tradition.

"I think industrial, we're doing very well, with Southgate, the Port Authority, Prologis, Beech Road," said Steve Layman, commercial real estate agent with NAI Ohio Equities Anderson Layman Company.

"I think our area is doing exceedingly well with industrial development."

Southgate Corporation, which has built about 50 spec buildings through many years of developing the Newark Industrial Park in Hebron, plans its fourth spec building in Heath and Hebron in the last four years.

"We have an aggressive and progressive development community," said Dan Evers, economic development director of Grow Licking County. "This is the only spot in the region spec buildings are being put up and filled.

"We have high-quality space and developers willing to be patient and find the right tenant for the space and the community."

Sometimes, having space available means a previous occupant left, or there is a lack of interest.

But a community needs available sites to show developers, particularly in manufacturing.

"You can have a glut of space and it can depress price," Evers said. "We don't, because part of what we have is a wide variety of space.

"A segment of the market wants first-generation space. With international clients, it has great appeal."

How much available inventory is the right amount?

It depends, Evers said, on the community, location, markets, economy and marketing.

"The critical question is not vacancy rate, but quality of the product," Evers said. "Part of that is the market.

"There's always going to be space available. How ready for the market are they and how aggressive are they being marketed?"

Grow Licking County recently listed 49 industrial sites available for lease or sale, including 14 in Newark and 10 each in Heath and Hebron.

The largest in Newark were 125,000 square feet at 325 W. Main St., 95,000 square feet at 1984 Coffman Road, and 95,720 square feet at 100 Manning St.

The Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority has grown from 57 acres in 1996 to more than 350 acres today. It continues to add companies to the former Newark Air Force Base location.

Since Port Authority Executive Director Rick Platt was hired in 2002, the campus has added nine companies and five new buildings totaling 360,000 square feet.

Two more buildings are planned or under construction.

How has the Port Authority managed to keep bringing in new business?

"I like to say it's opportunity meets preparedness," Platt stated. "We rode through the recession, stayed bullish on manufacturing, and kept investing to be ready to accept industry growth.

"The opportunities the Port Authority is realizing in the past year or so are the outcome of years of preparedness."

The Port Authority's existing building space is 99.3 percent leased out, with only 6,500 square feet available.

While manufacturing has been Licking County's niche, there is plenty of office and retail space available.

The retail market, Layman said, suffered a significant downturn and has picked up. The market for office space is not strong, but improving, he said.

"Retail, we think is in balance," Layman said. "We're not expecting to see any strip developments in the near future. More restaurants, possible. Speculative retail development is gone. We won't see that for awhile.

"The office market was absolutely dormant for a long while and is showing signs of life."

kmallett@newark

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Twitter: @kmallett1958