YOUNGSTOWN Omega Door plans move to city from Boardman

The move would bring 40 existing jobs and five new ones into the city.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
YOUNGSTOWN -- Omega Door Co. plans to move from Boardman to Youngstown to gain space and consolidate its operations from four buildings into one.
The company, which specializes in installation and service of garage doors, is slated to receive financing from the city to help buy the former Grief Brothers Container Products property on Gibson Street.
Tony Orlando, Omega general manager, said he thinks the move from McClurg Road in Boardman should be completed in January.
The company employs 40 and intends to hire five more over the next three years.
Needs more space: Orlando said the company needs more space because sales have grown between 10 percent and 15 percent a year for the past five years. The Gibson Street plant has 55,000 square feet, which is about 3,000 square feet more than Omega's leased plants in Boardman.
The Youngstown property will be better for the company because it will be able to bring all operations under one roof, Orlando said. It has four buildings on different sides of the street in Boardman.
Besides the corporate office, the company operates a showroom, sales office, parts department, service division and assembly operation for commercial doors.
The company also operates service and installation offices in the Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Kansas City areas.
Orlando said the Gibson Street site is centrally located for the company's service territory in this region and has quick access to Interstate 680.
Applied for loan: Omega has applied for a $60,000 loan from the city of Youngstown under its Youngstown-Small Business Administration Initiative program.
The loan would be forgiven if the company meets hiring and spending targets in three years, said Jeffrey Chagnot, city development director. The city uses federal money to fund the program.
Chagnot said the program's review committee will consider the funding soon.
The money would cover 15 percent of the cost of the project. Other funding is coming from the Mahoning Valley Economic Development Corp. and Sky Bank.
Chagnot said a tax abatement request also is being prepared for the project and will be submitted to city council. The proposal calls for the abatement of 75 percent of personal and real property taxes for 10 years.
shilling@vindy.com