COMING SUNDAY
Three key takeaways from REDI Cincinnati’s annual meeting Sunday in the Journal-News.
Despite changes made partway through 2014 to increase regional collaboration and to get more involvement from top business leaders in economic development, REDI Cincinnati only beat 2013 results in one key metric tracked by the organization and its partner JobsOhio.
Companies pledged 3,222 new jobs across Butler, Brown, Clermont, Hamilton and Warren counties in 2013. Last year, pledges for new job creation grew to 3,379, about a 5 percent increase from the year before, which REDI announced Tuesday at its annual meeting held in downtown Cincinnati. Tax incentive agreements with state government spell out that businesses have three years to fulfill the promises.
But in other measures such as job retention and capital investments, 2014 results fell behind, according to REDI’s records. The number of jobs retained — or the number of employees already working at companies that announce expansions — was counted at 7,602 in 2013 and 5,049 last year. Companies working with REDI and local governments in 2013 said they planned $345 million worth of capital investments; last year they announced plans for $268 million in capital investments.
“REDI Cincinnati and the region were fortunate to land multiple big projects in 2013 that helped drive our capital investment and retained numbers. These are the signs in economic development that provide proof of positive momentum in the region that we like to see — companies growing and investing in big ways,” said Johnna Reeder, president and chief executive officer of REDI Cincinnati, in a written statement.
“The capital investment and new job numbers continued to be excellent in 2014 and exceeded goal. And as a region, we continue to be strong competitively, which you see in our (No. 3) ranking in last week’s Site Selection Magazine announcement.”
One of REDI’s key jobs is to put the Cincinnati region on the map to outsiders and lure new companies here. Another role is to work with local governments to keep the existing businesses in the region and prevent them from moving or expanding elsewhere when possible. REDI also acts as a liaison for negotiating business deals between local governments and the private nonprofit agency JobsOhio, a group that leads business attraction statewide.
In addition to working with JobsOhio, REDI also leads economic development efforts in Northern Kentucky and Southeastern Indiana as part of the Cincinnati metropolitan.
The numbers listed above are for benchmarking purposes and are not all-inclusive. Not all companies that grow in the region and add jobs work with REDI. Nor do figures include the retail and health care businesses for which Ohio is not usually competitive.
“Projects take time to come to fruition and we’ve got a strong pipeline. We’re starting 2015 extremely strong. REDI’s mission is to continue that upward momentum and drive strong results year in and year out. And that’s what we’re planning to do,” Reeder said.
Counted among last year's projects were expansions by Hamilton's ThyssenKrupp Bilstein of America Inc., an expanding auto supplier; Monroe's UGN Inc., which is opening a new auto parts manufacturing plant; and AtriCure Inc., a medical device maker which is building a new headquarters office in Mason.
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