This is great news: Columbus gets new jobs, the rest of us Ohioans get a tax increase!

^ Responses like this are why I hesitated to even post this bit of Amazon news.  But it is an important fact for those who shop Amazon and live in Ohio (like myself).

 

Apparently it is Amazon policy/state law that whenever Amazon becomes a significant physical presence in a state, they include applicable state sales taxes to orders within that state.  So this data center construction - which is said to the beginning of other unnamed Amazon construction elsewhere in Ohio - now meets this physical presence threshold.  (At least that's my reading of it.  If someone knows this to be different, please let us know.)

 

Like I said, it's a bummer for Ohio Amazon shoppers like myself.  But it likely won't stop me from continuing to shop at Amazon.  I'm actually surprised that Amazon stayed state sales tax exempt for as long as it did.  Many of the local 'bricks-n-mortar' shops we love to see in the urban locations we promote here at Urban Ohio have long complained about the 'unfairness' and 'unequal playing field' that sales tax exemption provided.  Plus, I'm seeing more internet shopping sites adding state sales tax to on-line transactions.

^ Responses like this are why I hesitated to even post this bit of Amazon news.  But it is an important fact for those who shop Amazon and live in Ohio (like myself).

 

I almost started my own thread on the story (which I had read elsewhere) but decided to see if there was any prior discussion.

 

Apparently it is Amazon policy/state law that whenever Amazon becomes a significant physical presence in a state, they include applicable state sales taxes to orders within that state.  So this data center construction - which is said to the beginning of other unnamed Amazon construction elsewhere in Ohio - now meets this physical presence threshold.  (At least that's my reading of it.  If someone knows this to be different, please let us know.)

 

I'm fairly certain that it's actually a Federal law...or the interpretation of a Supreme Court case from a few years back.

 

Like I said, it's a bummer for Ohio Amazon shoppers like myself.  But it likely won't stop me from continuing to shop at Amazon.  I'm actually surprised that Amazon stayed state sales tax exempt for as long as it did.  Many of the local 'bricks-n-mortar' shops we love to see in the urban locations we promote here at Urban Ohio have long complained about the 'unfairness' and 'unequal playing field' that sales tax exemption provided.  Plus, I'm seeing more internet shopping sites adding state sales tax to on-line transactions.

 

An argument can probably be made that this doesn't really benefit local mom and pops all that much because they were mostly never competing with Amazon on price to begin with. Larger retailers like Walmart and Target are the ones for whom this is leveling the playing field.

 

In terms of PR, I think this would have gone over a bit better if they two things were announced separately spread out over time. I think to many Ohioans not living in Central Ohio, it's going to leave a sour taste in their mouths. And yes, this is tax that should have been paid anyways.

Technically, when all of us file our Ohio tax returns each year, we're supposed to claim online purchases and pay tax on 'em.

Technically, when all of us file our Ohio tax returns each year, we're supposed to claim online purchases and pay tax on 'em.

 

While that's true, there are a lot of taxes that aren't being collected or reported that the government isn't trying as hard to actively get their hands on. Kasich even mentioned during the announcement that this revenue would go towards potentially lowering other taxes. I read that as meaning increasing the income tax. Seems this move makes our system overall more regressive.

Amazon will probably make up for it by giving more incentives to their Prime members, making it a push for those members.

COLUMBUS COLLABORATORY: 7 CENTRAL OHIO COMPANIES FORM UNIQUE ALLIANCE

By Mary Yost

From the June 2015 issue of Columbus CEO

 

Collaboration is often called “the Columbus Way.”  Seven of the city’s largest organizations take Columbus’ signature trait to new heights and even claim it in the name of their joint venture.

 

The Columbus Collaboratory is taking shape in brightly renovated space at Battelle, where seven new graduates in information technology will soon begin working and then head off to rotating cyber security assignments at the seven member companies.

 

American Electric Power, Battelle, Cardinal Health, Huntington Bank, L Brands, Nationwide and OhioHealth are in diverse industries - and that’s the point of their unique alliance.  Because they are not competing with each other, they are willing to work together on common issues regarding the exploding field of big data, notes Matt Wald, who was hired at the end of March as the Collaboratory’s CEO.

 

MORE: http://www.columbusceo.com/content/stories/2015/06/columbus-collaboratory-7-central-ohio-companies-form-unique-alliance.html

Couple of Business First articles reporting on last month's Columbus Startup Week - http://columbus.startupweek.co:

 

- Columbus Startup Week: Entrepreneurial report card finds strong base, ‘middling performance’ - http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2015/05/columbus-startup-week-entrepreneurial-report-card.html

 

- Columbus Startup Week: 5 keys to a thriving entrepreneurial community – how is Columbus doing? - http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2015/05/08/columbus-startup-week-5-keys-to-athriving.html

Couple of Dispatch articles reporting on a local technology business incubator, formerly known as TechColumbus, and one of its success stories:

 

- Local technology incubator re-branded as Rev1 Ventures: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2015/03/10/local-technology-incubator-re-branded-as-rev1-ventures.html

 

- Analytics company Clarivoy sees success - Local business incubator Rev1 touts assistance: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2015/06/03/analytics-company-sees-success-with-help-from-local-business-incubator.html

Columbus Region has Added 100,000 Jobs Since 2010

By Walker Evans, Columbus Underground

May 13, 2015 - 9:39 am

 

Economic development organization Columbus 2020 announced today that the Central Ohio region has added a total of 106,000 net new jobs in the past five years.  The organization set out with a mission in 2010 to support the creation of 150,000 jobs in ten years, which means they’ve surpassed their goals thus far.

( . . . )

The job growth numbers are close to mirroring the population gains in Central Ohio, which has been adding approximately 20,000 to 25,000 new residents each year.  Between July 2013 and July 2014, the region grew by 25,504 people.

 

MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/columbus-region-has-added-100000-jobs-since-2010

Labor shortage looming as Central Ohio job market heats up

By Evan Weese, Columbus Business First

June 23, 2015, 2:47pm EDT

 

Five years since as many as one in 10 workers struggled to find jobs in Central Ohio, the region’s employers are coping with a growing shortage of job seekers.  Unemployment in the 10-county area surrounding Columbus dropped to a seasonally adjusted 4.3 percent in May, from 4.4 percent a month earlier, putting the jobless rate closer to territory that economists consider to be full employment.

( . . . )

Through five months of 2015, the region added 8,200 jobs, growing 0.8 percent to 1.029 million, from just under 1.021 million at the end of December, according to a survey of business payrolls by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

 

Columbus-based Regionomics LLC owner Bill LaFayette said a promising sign for Central Ohio is that its labor force - people who are working (employed) or trying to work (unemployed) - has grown this year, meaning some job seekers who gave up looking for work are back on the hunt.  But employment grew by more than the labor force - 18,500 to 12,500 - since May 2014.

 

MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2015/06/labor-shortage-looming-as-central-ohio-job-market.html

Amazon now projecting 2,000 jobs in Central Ohio, doubling previous plans

By Evan Weese, Staff Reporter

Columbus Business First - July 22, 2015, 10:38am EDT

 

Amazon.com Inc. is poised to make quick work of its promise to further invest in Ohio.  Eight weeks after an Amazon executive stood beside Gov. John Kasich to tout the company’s Big Data network as “just the beginning of Amazon in the state,” the e-commerce giant is moving ahead with plans to invest another $225 million here, with a total hiring projection of 2,000 jobs, according to a proposal for state tax incentives through the Ohio Development Services Agency.  It lists Licking County as the home of the proposed project.

( . . . )

Amazon is already moving ahead with a separate $1.1 billion project to develop three data centers in Central Ohio, a plan that earned state tax incentives with a promise of 120 jobs and various other incentives from host cities Dublin, Hilliard and New Albany.

 

MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2015/07/22/amazon-now-projecting-2-000-jobs-in-central-ohio.html

Here's where Amazon is likely going with its 2,000 jobs

By Brian R. Ball, Staff Reporter

Columbus Business First - July 23, 2015, 11:26am EDT

 

One big question regarding Amazon.com Inc.'s big Central Ohio expansion plans is just where the company would build what's expected to be a significant fulfillment operation.

 

Amazon on Monday is scheduled to go before the Ohio Tax Credit Authority for approval of a proposed incentive package related to its plans to create upwards of 2,000 jobs in Central Ohio.  According to preliminary information obtained by Columbus Business First, Amazon told the state it is targeting Licking County for the project.

 

I called several commercial real estate and development sources in the wake of the disclosure, and the consensus in the industry has Amazon setting up at the Prologis Park 70 Etna, east of Reynoldsburg in Licking County.

 

MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2015/07/23/heres-where-amazon-is-likely-going-with-its-2-000.html

^ Apparently Amazon is considering both Prologis Park 70 in Etna and an Obetz location near the Rickenbacker Airport and Multi-Modal Center for a pair of fulfillment centers in Central Ohio:

 

Amazon considering Etna and Obetz for pair of fulfillment centers: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2015/07/amazon-considering-etna-and-obetz-for-pair-of.html

From humble beginnings, Thirty-One Gifts now fills Nationwide Arena

Homegrown company started in a basement in 2003

By Tim Feran, The Columbus Dispatch

Saturday, July 25, 2015 -5:29 AM

 

More than 10,000 women will turn Downtown pink this weekend as Columbus-based direct-sales powerhouse Thirty-One Gifts holds its annual sales conference at Nationwide Arena.

 

It’s a big deal for Columbus.  City officials estimate that the convention visitors will spend $6.3 million by the time the conference ends on Monday.  It’s so big that Mayor Michael B. Coleman has renamed Nationwide Boulevard Thirty-One Way, the street now sporting a new, bright pink sign.

 

But it’s also a big deal for the company, said Cindy Monroe, founder, president and CEO, during a break from rehearsals for the huge opening show that will kick off the convention on Sunday.

 

MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2015/07/25/homegrown.html

MORE AMAZON DEVELOPMENT NEWS:

 

---

​Amazon land deal in New Albany closes:  http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2015/08/12/amazon-land-deal-in-new-albany-closes.html

 

- The 67.3-acre site in New Albany where Amazon Web Services plans to locate one of three data centers operations in Central Ohio has officially sold.

 

---

Obetz OKs preliminary plan for land where Amazon may build:  http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2015/08/18/obetz-oks-preliminary-plan-for-land-where-amazon.html

 

- Plans for one of two Amazon fulfillment centers planned to be built in Central Ohio were approved by the Village of Obetz.  Public documents show the preliminary plan will allow the development of up to 2.25 million square feet on land the owned by the Columbus Regional Airport Authority near Rickerbacker Airport.

Confirmation of where Amazon will be building its two fulfillment centers in Central Ohio:

 

Amazon confirms it's putting fulfillment centers in Obetz and Etna Township

By Brian R. Ball, Staff Reporter - Columbus Business First

Nov. 18, 2015, 10:24am EST

 

Amazon.com Inc. has confirmed its selection of the Prologis Park 70 Etna and Rickenbacker Global Logistics Park for its Central Ohio fulfillment centers.

 

Amazon said San Francisco-based developer Prologis Inc. will build an 800,000-square-foot distribution center at the Etna Township park in Licking County.  It also will have Indianapolis-based Duke Realty Corp. build 1 million-square-foot project in Obetz that it will develop in partnership with the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, which owns the land at Alum Creek Drive, and minority partner Capitol Square Ltd.

 

MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2015/11/18/amazon-confirms-its-putting-fulfillment-centers.html

 

Amazon employment may surge well past 2,000 jobs

By Brian R. Ball, Staff Reporter - Columbus Business First

Updated: Nov. 18, 2015, 3:15pm EST

 

The two Amazon.com Inc. fulfillment centers headed to Central Ohio will open in time for the 2016 Christmas gift-giving season, officials are saying, and could employ more than the originally estimated 2,000 workers even before accounting for seasonal surges.  Officials in Etna Township and Obetz gave me their estimates of Amazon employment at each site.

 

John Carlisle, president of the Etna Township board of trustees, said he expects the web-based retailer to hire 1,200 to 1,500 workers year-round.  That number could jump as high as 2,000 needed during the holidays.  Carlisle told me the 800,000-square-foot distribution center to be built at Prologis Park 70 Etna adjacent to Etna Corporate Park, "should be up and running by Sept. 1”.

 

Obetz Village Administrator Rod Davisson said he expects nearly 1,000 jobs based on indications from Duke Realty Corp., the co-developer and builder of a 1 million-square-foot project in the extension of the Indianapolis-based REIT’s Rickenbacker Global Logistics Park off Alum Creek Drive.  Davisson said the plans call for 900 employee parking spots and should that facility operate more than one shift, one can easily expect the employment numbers to climb above 1,000 as it gears up toward capacity.

 

Davisson attributed the lower job expectations from a larger facility in Obetz to the larger retail products he expects will get shipped there.  “My understanding is our sorting facility will handle large, bulky items,” he said, while Etna will have smaller products picked and packed for shipping to customers. “They’re definitely not two identical facilities.”  He expects construction to begin quickly on the site where some pre-construction work has already begun.  “We’re on the same (construction) path as Etna,” Davisson told me, “with an opening early next fall.”

 

MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2015/11/18/amazon-employment-may-surge-well-past-2-000-jobs.html

Top 10 Cities for Black-Owned Small Businesses in America 2015

 

 

Black-owned businesses are on a roll. In 2007, African-Americans ran 7.1 percent of businesses in the United States. Five years later, that number grew to 9.4 percent—even during a recession—according to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau released this September. The portion of U.S. businesses with employees led by Blacks slightly increased as well—from 1.9 percent in 2007 to 2.0 percent in 2012.

 

The good news is that Black-owned businesses are rising, though to be sure, challenges remain.

 

More below:

https://www.thumbtack.com/blog/smb/

Couple of Business First articles about Rev1 Ventures (rebranded from Tech Columbus earlier this year) tech business incubator located just south of OSU's west campus on Kinnear Road:

 

-- Rev1 Ventures' startup clients created 344 jobs in 2014

 

-- Rev1 Ventures board member says it's shed 'slow, bureaucratic' reputation

Business First article about comments by the Cleveland Fed President, who was in town for a speech at the Columbus Metropolitan Club:

 

-- Columbus economy in strong position for sustainable growth, Cleveland Fed President says

Here are the 10 companies with the most Ohio State grads

 

Based on Business First analysis of LinkedIn (the social networking site for businesspeople) and Ohio State graduates between 2010 and 2015:

 

  1. OSU Medical Center

  2. JPMorgan Chase

  3. Children's Hospital

  4. Nationwide Insurance

  5. Abercrombie & Fitch

  6. OhioHealth

  7. Cardinal Health

  8. Nationwide Financial

  9. Cleveland Clinic

10. Amazon

Swedish payment processor Klarna - which has been billed as Europe’s PayPal - landed its first U.S. customer, Overstock.com.  Klarna is setting up its U.S. operation office in the recently completed Offices at the Joseph in the Short North with plans to add 82 jobs:

 

-- Klarna launches from Columbus with Overstock.com as its 1st U.S. customer

Columbus Business First reports on a Bureau of Labor Statistics report about job growth: "Several weeks after being recognized for a national-best 6.2 percent hourly earnings spike from June 2014 to June 2015, Columbus has proven to be the Midwest region’s top jobs creator over a slightly different time span, from July 2014 to July 2015.":

 

-- Columbus has the Midwest’s best job growth

Business First has some breakdowns of the students who attended Ohio State as of fall semester 2015.  52,495 students attended Ohio State's main Columbus campus and 65,184 attended all of the Ohio State campuses.  That overall total is 2.7 percent higher than the total from five years ago.  And though the biggest percentage of students are (not surprisingly) from Ohio, the overall of enrollment from Ohio residents has dropped 1.3 percent since 2010.

 

Making up for that in-state decrease are big increases in out-of-state and international students attending Ohio State.  The number of out-of-state students jumped 42.9 percent from 2010 to 2015 (7,632 to 10,905).  While OSU's international student attendance was up over 25 percent from 2010 to 2015 (4,940 to 6,153).  Below are the two Business First articles that break those numbers down further:

 

-- OSU's Out-of-State Student Numbers:  http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2015/09/even-though-it-doesnt-border-ohio-this-state-sends.html

 

-- OSU's International Student Numbers:  http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2015/09/china-sends-five-times-as-many-students-to-ohio.html

Huntington buying FirstMerit in $3.4B deal to become Ohio’s largest bank

 

 

Huntington Bancshares Inc. has agreed to acquire FirstMerit Corp. in a $3.4 billion cash-and-stock deal that will make it Ohio’s largest bank by deposits and will push its assets toward $100 billion, the companies announced late Monday.

 

Columbus-based Huntington (NASDAQ:HBAN), with 750 branches across six Midwestern states, lauded the deal as bolstering key markets throughout its home state and the region, as well as providing growth opportunities in new markets of Chicago and Wisconsin.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2016/01/26/huntington-buying-firstmerit-in-3-4b-deal-to.html

I am nervous about the negative impact on Akron.

I'm just glad this is happening after First Merit went to such lengths to renovate its (now former) HQ, Akron's tallest building.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not remotely glad this is happening.  First Merit has been a good corporate citizen for NEO.

They just bought naming rights to the convention center to right? First Merit that is.

Resource/Ammirati to be acquired by IBM

By Laura Newpoff, Assistant Managing Editor-Digital

Columbus Business First

Updated: January 28, 2016, 5:51pm EST

 

One of Columbus' best-known digital marketing agencies is joining one of the world's best-known technology giants.  IBM Corp. disclosed Thursday it had reached an agreement to acquire Resource/Ammirati.  It will be IBM’s first acquisition of a digital marketing creative agency.

 

Financial details weren't disclosed on the deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter.  According to trade publication AdAge, the deal indicates a continued convergence of agency services and consulting.  Resource/Ammirati will join the IBM Interactive Experience digital marketing services group within IBM.

( . . . )

Resource, Central Ohio's largest advertising agency, has 310 Central Ohio employees.  Its 2014 revenue was $75 million.  It's also one of Central Ohio's largest women-owned businesses.

 

MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2016/01/28/resource-ammirati-to-be-acquired-by-ib.html

Business First update on the IBM deal from the Resource/Ammirati founder:

 

Nancy Kramer: Resource/Ammirati keeping its name, offices, employees – IBM deal is 'all about growth'

One of the last parts of former Borden empire is leaving Central Ohio:  http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2016/02/18/elmers-glue-leaving-columbus-h-40-jobs-lost.html

 

The Borden Company was large enough back in 1974 to build a 34-story HQ tower in downtown Columbus.  But the company got broken up in the 1990's.  Only Borden Chemical still remains in Columbus as Hexion Specialty Chemicals.  Hexion is still headquartered in the former Borden Building at 180 E. Broad Street:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borden_(company)

 

 

Amazon distribution centers should be ready for holidays

By Mark Williams, The Columbus Dispatch

Wednesday, February 24, 2016 - 5:19 PM

 

Amazon's distribution center being built in Licking County figures to be up and running this fall, just in time for the holiday shopping season, according to a Licking County economic-development official who expects hiring to start in a few months.  The center, a massive 855,000-square-foot operation being built in Etna Township in Licking County, should have 1,500 to 2,000 employees eventually. ... The second distribution center that Amazon is building in Obetz near I-270 should be finished by the end of the year.

( . . . )

The company is also building three data centers in Hilliard, Dublin and New Albany.  The data centers, which operate under the name Amazon Web Services, are expected to employ about 120 workers.

( . . . )

In addition to the distribution and data centers, Amazon wants to put a wind farm in northwestern Ohio that is expected to start generating electricity in May 2017.  Further, there have been media reports that Amazon is considering starting its own air-freight service and testing it at a large air park in Wilmington in southwestern Ohio.

 

MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2016/02/24/amazon-distribution-centers-should-be-ready-for-holidays.html

Fast-growing Klarna expanding its role easing e-commerce

By Tim Feran, The Columbus Dispatch

Sunday March 27, 2016 5:33 AM

 

The Swedish e-commerce company Klarna recently made Columbus its North American headquarters. In slightly more than a year, the Columbus headquarters has grown from a handful of employees to 85 and is expected to have several hundred employees in the next year, and as many as 500 in the next three years.

 

...

 

"We're looking at 700 percent growth this year, although our head count won't grow that much," he said. "In the next 12 to 18 months, we'll expand to several hundred people. We might need our own building. We're in it for the long haul."

 

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2016/03/27/1-fast-growing-klarna-expanding-its-role-easing-e-commerce.html

The second-annual Columbus Startup Week starts today and runs until Friday:

 

http://columbus.startupweek.co/

 

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2016/05/02/columbus-startup-week-returns-designed-to-inspire-entrepreneurs.html

Columbus Startup Week: ECDI opening business incubator with drop-in counseling

By Carrie Ghose, Staff Reporter - Columbus Business First

May 5, 2016, 7:48am EDT

 

A business incubator and drop-in center targeting entrepreneurs in lower- and middle-income brackets will open as soon as its furniture gets delivered in a former warehouse attached to the Economic & Community Development Institute, said Steve Fireman, the nonprofit's president.

 

The Business Incubation Center will have ECDI staff, a relocated Women's Business Center and walk-in co-working space with reference materials and some computer workstations.  The city of Columbus and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are sponsoring the space at 1655 Old Leonard on Columbus' near east side.

 

MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2016/05/05/columbus-startup-week-ecdi-opening-business.html

Anybody ever hear of a snack brand called Curate snacks? I was at Ralph's grocery store and picked up one of their snack bars and while looking at the package was surprised to find their address as 191 W. Nationwide Blvd., Columbus. If I'm getting these bars at a Ralph's in LA they have pretty good distribution, but I'd never heard of them. The bar was just ok, btw.

Anybody ever hear of a snack brand called Curate snacks? I was at Ralph's grocery store and picked up one of their snack bars and while looking at the package was surprised to find their address as 191 W. Nationwide Blvd., Columbus. If I'm getting these bars at a Ralph's in LA they have pretty good distribution, but I'd never heard of them. The bar was just ok, btw.

 

Curate is an Abbott Nutrition brand. I know EAS, also owned by Abbott, has offices in the AD. Perhaps Curate does as well.

Anybody ever hear of a snack brand called Curate snacks? I was at Ralph's grocery store and picked up one of their snack bars and while looking at the package was surprised to find their address as 191 W. Nationwide Blvd., Columbus. If I'm getting these bars at a Ralph's in LA they have pretty good distribution, but I'd never heard of them. The bar was just ok, btw.

 

Curate is an Abbott Nutrition brand. I know EAS, also owned by Abbott, has offices in the AD. Perhaps Curate does as well.

 

Thanks for that reply.  I didn't have an answer about Curate (other than 191 W. Nationwide being office space in the Arena District).  Abbott is quite the diversified company aren't they: http://www.abbott.com/our-products.html  --  Abbott is almost like the Battelle of nutrition.  You never know what's happening inside that huge white Abbott rectangle at the northern fringe of downtown, or if they've branched off somewhere else!

Anybody ever hear of a snack brand called Curate snacks? I was at Ralph's grocery store and picked up one of their snack bars and while looking at the package was surprised to find their address as 191 W. Nationwide Blvd., Columbus. If I'm getting these bars at a Ralph's in LA they have pretty good distribution, but I'd never heard of them. The bar was just ok, btw.

 

Curate is an Abbott Nutrition brand. I know EAS, also owned by Abbott, has offices in the AD. Perhaps Curate does as well.

 

Thanks for that reply.  I didn't have an answer about Curate (other than 191 W. Nationwide being office space in the Arena District).  Abbott is quite the diversified company aren't they: http://www.abbott.com/our-products.html  --  Abbott is almost like the Battelle of nutrition.  You never know what's happening inside that huge white Abbott rectangle at the northern fringe of downtown, or if they've branched off somewhere else!

 

The production facility downtown produces only liquids. Mostly Ensure, Similac and PediaSure. It's the only Abbott Nutrition plant in an urban area. The long white rectangle houses a monorail that moves pallets of finished product from the plant to the warehouse. Also the Abbott Nutrition HQ is in Columbus on Steltzer just south of Easton. They have 2,800 employees in Columbus. Only 500 of whom work at the plant downtown. They give tours if you're ever interested.

 

The parent company, Abbott Labs, is headquartered in Chicago. Your comparison to Battelle is apt. They're heavily research based with tons of patents, trials and research under their belt. Abbott Nutrition is a huge asset to Columbus, and it's strange we as a community know so little about them.

Also the Abbott Nutrition HQ is in Columbus on Steltzer just south of Easton.

 

 

Not to single out a typo, but calling Stelzer Road Steltzer Road is something almost all of us do. Every time I'm on Stelzer Road I think of the 3 Stooges blasting each other in the face with seltzer water. That's like how people from Ohio call Xena Warrior Princess "Xenia".

Also the Abbott Nutrition HQ is in Columbus on Steltzer just south of Easton.

 

 

Not to single out a typo, but calling Stelzer Road Steltzer Road is something almost all of us do. Every time I'm on Stelzer Road I think of the 3 Stooges blasting each other in the face with seltzer water. That's like how people from Ohio call Xena Warrior Princess "Xenia".

 

I have to admit that I would have spelled it Steltzer too without looking at a map.  Because "Steltzer" is how its pronounced locally.

Also the Abbott Nutrition HQ is in Columbus on Steltzer just south of Easton.

 

 

Not to single out a typo, but calling Stelzer Road Steltzer Road is something almost all of us do. Every time I'm on Stelzer Road I think of the 3 Stooges blasting each other in the face with seltzer water. That's like how people from Ohio call Xena Warrior Princess "Xenia".

 

Ha! I drive on that road every day, too. Oops!

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/01/realestate/commercial/downtown-columbus-comes-to-life-with-millennial-tower.html?_r=0

 

A summary of the revitalization downtown.

Business First and the Dispatch each had an update on the Amazon fulfillment centers being constructed.  The Etna Township facility in Licking County east of Columbus and the Rickenbacker-area facility in Obetz south of Columbus are scheduled to be finished by September:

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/print-edition/2016/05/27/amazon-reveals-how-it-ll-move-goods-by-the.html

 

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2016/05/24/theres-order-in-seemingly-random-organization-of-quick-delivery-amazon-hub.html

Amazon's Etna Township fulfillment center has a footprint of more than 800,000 square feet - but with four floors of storage and sorting, the total square footage balloons to about 3 million, equal to about 60 football fields.  It will eventually have more than 1,500 employees:

 

Millions of pieces of merchandise will fill the Amazon centers.  In addition to the employees, hundreds of 325-pound robots (which resemble giant hockey pucks) will shuffle under stacks of shelves and move them to sorting areas for distribution:

 

(Photos from http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/print-edition/2016/05/27/amazon-reveals-how-it-ll-move-goods-by-the.html)

Meanwhile, in May, Amazon opened a smaller Prime Now hub in a low-key warehouse space on the West Side of Columbus.  The Prime Now hub solely services its free two-hour delivery (or one-hour delivery for $7.99) for Amazon Prime members.  The Dispatch profiled the Prime Now hub operation at the below link, and also has a brief video inside the space:

 

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2016/05/24/theres-order-in-seemingly-random-organization-of-quick-delivery-amazon-hub.html

 

Amazon is the new kid in the Columbus logistics market.  But old guard package deliverer UPS isn't sitting still.  Last month, UPS announced they will invest $177 million in an expansion of their Columbus distribution hub at 5101 Trabue Road.  UPS said they will nearly double their west-side facility from its existing 408,343 square feet to 756,539 square feet, and install new sorting equipment designed to move packages more efficiently.

 

Below are reports from Business First and the Dispatch about UPS receiving city and state tax credits for this project:

 

- http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2016/05/20/ups-set-to-invest-177m-to-expand-columbus.html

 

- http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2016/05/23/projects-expected-to-create-460-local-jobs-approved-for-tax-credits.html

Along with the UPS news, a state tax credit announcement was also made regarding Dollar Shave Club moving into Central Ohio.  Dollar Shave Club announced plans to invest $4.5 million and hire 185 workers in Grove City for a distribution center that will serve the company's customers in the eastern U.S.

 

- http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2016/05/23/dollar-shave-club-bringing-185-jobs-to-central.html

 

- http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2016/05/23/projects-expected-to-create-460-local-jobs-approved-for-tax-credits.html

And circling back to Amazon:  The UPS and Dollar Shave Club reports also made mention of an Amazon project planned for Northeast Ohio.  It also included this recap of Amazon's investment to date in the entire state, as follows:

 

"Outside of central Ohio, the tax authority approved a new project with online retail giant Amazon.  Amazon wants to build a new sorting center in Twinsburg in northeast Ohio that is meant to increase reliability and improve package-delivery schedules.  Amazon expects to create 150 jobs with an annual payroll of $4.1 million."

 

"The project is one of several that Amazon has announced in just the past year in Ohio.  The company plans to open three data centers in central Ohio, build two distribution centers in the Columbus area and build a wind farm in northwest Ohio.  It also has struck a deal with Air Transport Services Group, which operates in Wilmington, to operate an air-transport network."

 

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2016/05/23/projects-expected-to-create-460-local-jobs-approved-for-tax-credits.html