WHY LOGAN COUNTY
INDUSTRY IS THRIVING, EXPANDING AND CONTINUING TO INVEST IN LOGAN COUNTY
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Since 2010 there has been over $540M in capital investment by new and expanding businesses in Logan County. This includes growth at many of our 11 Japanese owned companies and the market entry of our first French company, an automotive parts company by the name of Valeo. The large Japanese presence is fueled by the location of Honda of America Manufacturing which celebrates 40 years in the region in 2019. Smaller businesses are launching and growing in Logan County as well. In 2019, we celebrated a $2M expansion of PowerBuilt Material Handling Solutions, a homegrown business that has gone from 2 employees in 2000 to over 30 today.
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Another success story is Majestic Plastics, a local plastic injection molding business that has steadily grown from a 1 -man operation occupying 1,200 square feet in 2000 to 54 people and 61,000 square feet in 2019.
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Center for smart mobility research
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Transportation Research Center (TRC) of Logan County, at 4,500 acres, is North America's largest automotive proving ground. With a 7.5-mile high speed track, a 50 acres vehicle dynamics test area, and a new 540 acre SMARTCenter it's understandable why over 1,000 companies test their automotive and aerospace technology at TRC. Most notably. TRC is the home of the only federal vehicle research and test laboratory for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. TRC is truly looking to the future with their new $45 million, 540 acre SMARTCenter project. The campus opened in July 2019 to provide diverse off-road testing of autonomous and connected vehicles. As a partnership between The Ohio State University and Honda. this state of the art facility is attracting global attention from the mobility Industry.
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TRC's off-road testing compliments on road testing of autonomous and connected vehicles (AV/CV) on the 33 Smart Mobility Corridor. This 4-lane highway corridor originates at TRC and heads 35-miles east to the Columbus outer belt. Equipped with Dedicated Short Range Communication Towers connected via a redundant fiber loop, AV/CV technology will be developed, tested, and proven on this corridor in Logan and Union Counties.
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Fiber Access
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Logan County may be rural in nature but it is as well connected to broadband fiber optic infrastructure as an urban city in the country. Through local company NetGain Information Systems, Logan County has access to 1,100 route miles of fiber offering up to 100Gbos service. Via partnership with several local organizations, fiber to the home in the county seat of Bellefontaine began to be offered in 2019 through a service called PeakFiber.
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Workforce
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Thanks to the incredible job opportunities, nearly 10.000 people commute into Logan County daily to work.
The Columbus Region is expected to add 1,000,000 people in the next 30 years, which will continue to fuel the workforce of our future. Locally, our population finds its roots in agriculture which continues to espouse a strong work ethic that our employers highly value. |
Small town resurgence
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The county seat of Logan County is Bellefontaine. In 2012, nearly 70% of first-floor downtown spaces were vacant. Since then $17M has been invested, 27 buildings renovated, 30 new restaurants/retail businesses have opened, 23 new loft apartments were create, and upwards of 200 new jobs have been created. Today, Bellefontaine is truly a destination for visitors near and far.
Just 7 miles south, the Village of West Liberty has also become a destination point for visitors looking for small town charm and boutique shops. West Liberty is the proud home of Marie's Candies, Ohio Caverns, and the Piatt Castles. |
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Ten miles northwest of Bellefontaine sits Ohio's 2nd most visited state park: Indian Lake. This 5,800 acre lake is bustling with activity: camping, fishing, swimming, boating, restaurants, and shops. It is a community worth visiting.
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Come see for yourself why Logan County is an ideal place to have a business!
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