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McDonald’s supplier prepares $30M center, 160 jobs for Valley
The Vindicator ( Youngstown)
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Ohio Gov. John Kasich, seventh from left in blue shirt, helps business, political and development leaders break ground for Solon-based Anderson-Dubose Inc.’s new distribution center in Lordstown. Dubose is building a $30 million, 155,000-square-foot facility at the Ohio Commerce Center in Lordstown that will bring 160 jobs to the Mahoning Valley. Anderson-Dubose is a McDonald’s supplier. The ceremonial ground breaking was Tuesday.
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Warren Anderson, president and general manager of Anderson-Dubose Inc., says his company chose Lordstown to build its new distribution center because of its location and proximity to rail service.
Anderson-Dubose Breaks Ground
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It’s been a good start to the week for the Mahoning Valley’s economy. A day after the announcement of at least 40 new manufacturing jobs in Youngstown, Anderson-Dubose Inc. broke ground Tuesday on a new $30 million distribution center in Lordstown. The project will bring 160 jobs and $8 million in additional annual income to the Valley.
By Karl Henkel
LORDSTOWN
It’s been a good start to the week for the Mahoning Valley’s economy.
A day after the announcement of at least 40 new manufacturing jobs in Youngstown, Anderson-Dubose Inc. broke ground Tuesday on a new $30 million distribution center in Lordstown.
The project will bring 160 jobs and $8 million in additional annual income to the Valley.
“These are good-paying jobs [with] benefits,” said Warren Anderson, president and general manager of Anderson-Dubose. “You can raise a family on these jobs.”
The Solon-based company supplies McDonald’s Corp. in eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania and West Virginia with food and supplies.
Anderson-Dubose, which expects the project to be complete by April 2012, will merge two plants in Solon and Carnegie, Pa., into the 155,000-square foot facility at the Ohio Commerce Center.
The project’s general contractor is Streetsboro-based Geis Construction.
Anderson-Dubose joins other major Mahoning Valley distribution centers, including Macy’s, Things Remembered, Kmart and Toys “R” Us, according to the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.
It’s been a long time coming for the company, which originally sought to consolidate its two locations in North Jackson in 2009, but residents complained about a tax abatement and questioned whether the company would disturb its residential atmosphere.
Company officials then turned to Lordstown, which along with Trumbull County in May approved a tax abatement of 75 percent for 10 years on all new real-property investments, which saves the company between $300,000 and $400,000 a year.
“It’s centrally located, it has rail service, and the community wanted us,” Anderson said.
“We looked at a couple of other neighboring communities, and quite frankly, they were difficult to deal with.
“I didn’t want to put my business in a place that didn’t want to do business with me.”
The Solon-based company, a McDonald’s supplier, was welcomed by officials from Lordstown, the chamber and Gov. John Kasich.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” Kasich said at Tuesday’s groundbreaking.
“But it kind of feels like the sun is coming up [in the Valley].
“We’ve just got to keep at it, and I’m going to keep coming back to make sure we get it right.”