MAHONING VALLEY State approves funds for village and business incubator

This is the second state grant to the business incubator in the last year.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- The state is giving $243,000 to Lordstown for roads to develop an industrial park and $225,000 to the Youngstown Business Incubator to help develop high-tech businesses.
The State Controlling Board approved releasing the money Monday.
Lordstow6 project
In Lordstown, the state money will help defray infrastructure costs associated with developing the Henn Industrial Park. The industrial park is home to Henn Workshops, designer of fine handcrafted reproductions of 18th- and 19th-century baskets, pottery and Shaker woodenware; and Intier Automotive Systems, an international leader in the development, production and distribution of automotive interiors and closure devices, state officials said.
About $170,000 of the state money is to be released this fiscal year with an additional $72,700 to be released in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.
Road work at the project site includes a 1,000 linear-foot extension of the current access road at a cost of $243 per linear foot, the state said. The $243,000 in state funds represents about half of the eligible infrastructure improvement costs at the site, estimated to be $493,000.
Other infrastructure improvement costs related to the project include the extension and upgrade of water and sanitary sewer lines to the industrial park, state officials said.
Henn Development, an affiliate company of Henn Workshops, will fund all other costs related to the development project, the state said.
Negotiators from Trumbull County and the village are in talks with other prospective tenants of the park.
Incubator
The state funds for the Youngstown Business Incubator will be used to provide resources to high-tech start-up companies such as office space, furniture, telephone lines, utilities, high-speed Internet and other services.
The controlling board, which is made up of six state lawmakers and a representative of the governor's office and has the final say over some larger state spending projects, previously released $225,000 to the incubator last August.
The YBI funds were provided through the state's Thomas Edison Program, which was created to provide grants to foster research, development and technology efforts involving enterprises and educational institutions that will lead to the creation of jobs.