State OKs loan, grant for Leedsworld equipment

COLUMBUS -- State Rep. Randy Law of Warren, R-64th, announced the approval of more than $2.2 million for Leedsworld Inc. to buy equipment for a new facility in Warren.
Specifically, a $2 million loan and a $250,000 Business Development Grant were approved by the State Controlling Board on Monday. The company plans to create 241 new full-time positions with average hourly wages of $9.83.
Leedsworld Inc. is the fourth largest supplier of promotional products and advertising specialty products in the world. Leedsworld operates a single facility at its headquarters in New Kensington, Pa. Its expansion into Ohio will accommodate the company's continuing growth.
Martin J. Vuono, chief financial officer with Leedsworld, said last month that decisions from local officials on incentives and negotiations on a lease agreement on the building still have to be finalized before a decision will be made on whether to locate at the Warren location or at a site in Altoona, Pa.
The company has said if it picks the Warren site, it will invest $4.4 million in the former Delphi Packard Electric building on North River Road on the edge of Warren Commerce Park.
Leedsworld has already received approval from Warren City Council, the Trumbull County commissioners and LaBrae school board for a tax abatement of 75 percent on new real-property improvements for 10 years, said Mark Zigmont, a planner with the Trumbull County Planning Commission.
He said he thinks that Leedsworld will make a decision on whether to locate at the Warren facility fairly soon but that the company is still in negotiations.