Flex-Strut gets funds to expand business

Staff report

WARREN

The Ohio Department of Development has approved a $180,000 Community Development Block Grant to help the Howland company Flex-Strut expand its metal- framing business.

Trumbull County commissioners also approved a 60 percent tax abatement for 10 years in March to assist Flex-Strut.

Flex Strut Inc., 2900 Commonwealth Ave. N.E., just off North River Road and near Delphi Packard Electric, is planning to hire 10 additional full-time employees and invest $2.25 million to $3.25 million over the next three years.

The company will use the money to buy machinery and equipment to operate an additional roll-forming line in its 102,000-square-foot plant.

The money also will leverage an additional $778,000 to be secured for the expansion, the development department said.

The company was established in 1994.

The Community Development Block Grant program provides funding for economic-development projects that create and/or retain permanent, private-sector job opportunities.