Ohio competes with five states to land 470 space agency jobs

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Nearby Brook Park and the state are offering more than $9 million in incentives to attract 470 space agency jobs in a competition with five other states that have NASA facilities.
Brook Park, already the home of the NASA Glenn Research Center, and Ohio are offering tax incentives that would pay for more than half of an $18.2 million NASA office hub to house consolidated agency administrative and information-technology services.
The services are spread among 10 NASA centers nationwide. The consolidated hub would have a payroll of $23 million by 2008.
"We absolutely have to do whatever we can to attract good jobs for the region," said Carol Caruso, chief advocacy officer for the Greater Cleveland Partnership, which is working with Brook Park and the state on the project.
NASA is not expected to select a winning bid until May 2005.
The local proposal calls for a starfish-shaped center to be built in a campus-like setting at Aerospace Technology Park near Cleveland Hopkins International Airport on land owned by Brook Park.
Other states competing for the hub are Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Virginia and Texas.