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City gets $500K grant for V&M facility
youngstown
Youngstown has been awarded a $500,000 grant that will be used for the renovation of an existing 93,000-square-foot manufacturing facility to be used by V&M Star on Salt Springs Road.
The grant pays for infrastructure improvements that will allow V&M Star to use the Salt Springs Road location, said Vince Bevacqua, company spokesman.
The grant and matching funds will pay for site clearance, roadway, and storm sewer lines, according to the Ohio Department of Development.
The funding was approved Monday through the department’s Job Ready Sites Grant program.
This new site will hold 25 employees, but they are part of the initial group cited when V&M Star opened, Bevacqua said.
“The company has simply outgrown the current site,” he said.
V&M Star will use the Salt Springs Road site as a roll shop and to repair broken equipment, Bevacqua said.
“Anything that helps the project along is a positive thing,” he said.
The $500,000 provided by the state in the grant will make up about 69 percent of the total $726,604 cost for the infrastructure improvements, said Stephanie Mennecke, spokes- woman for the Ohio Department of Development.
Youngstown must put forth $113,302 in cash for its share of the project, while the remaining $113,302 can come through work contributions, she said.
V&M Star will be renovating the former RAS Manufacturing building, which as been vacant for some time, said T. Sharon Woodberry, city economic development director. V&M Star has a lease with an option to buy the building and plans to invest about $3 million to turn it into a roll shop as part of the company’s ongoing $650 million expansion project.
This is good for Youngstown with V&M Star continuing to invest within the city, Woodberry said. The company will receive the grant money to make improvements and work will start as soon as the company is ready.
“We will work closely with V&M. We will work on their time schedule with respect to the deadlines,” she said.
Youngstown applied for the grant in February, Mennecke said. The development department funds are discretionary and are not competitive.
“It’s a great opportunity for the state to create jobs and help to improve a community,” she said.
The state will release the $500,000 to Youngstown by June 30, but only if all the contracts for the work have been signed and are ready. Otherwise it is possible the state would take back the grant offer, Mennecke said.