But before the company considered Hamilton, company officials had toured Middletown several times beginning last year and was working with city staff to find a suitable location, said Matt Eisenbraun, assistant economic development director of Middletown.
“They were looking seriously. They were in and out. We came very close,” Eisenbraun said. “We were unable to come to an agreement.”
The company had wanted to open in the former Target store in Middletown, currently a vacant space at 6775 Roosevelt Pkwy. under private ownership since the retailer closed shop last year.
StarTek was attracted to Middletown because of its central location between Cincinnati and Dayton, and the opportunity for hiring and training partnerships with local educational institutions such as Butler Technology and Career Development Schools, Miami University Regionals, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, and Sinclair Community College, he said.
“That’s what kept them coming back and continuing to pursue southwest Ohio,” he said.
But a fast turnaround was also important to the multinational business services company, and while StarTek continued to work with Middletown to hammer out a deal, the company returned after the holidays to JobsOhio to find a back-up site, he said.
That’s how Hamilton entered the picture.
“We didn’t get it, but it was a win for region. Those workers are not just going to come from Hamilton,” Eisenbraun explained. “The whole situation confirmed there’s a lot of opportunity for contact center work, and it’s something we want to focus on.”
Middletown will help communicate any job fairs or hiring information to job seekers, said Denise Hamet, the city’s economic development director.
“We did engage a number of workforce development officials from a very broad region to really come together,” Hamet said. “These jobs will be available to Middletown residents.”
As Hamilton's economic development department tells the story, StarTek was still considering multiple locations when it had a problem pop up in the meantime — where to store some furniture.
And when StarTek officials visited Hamilton again to see the storage space in the former Elder-Beerman building, city leaders didn’t let them leave without showing them building plans already mocked up for the call center in the upper levels of the same building.
The former Elder-Beerman building in Hamilton is owned by the Consortium for Ongoing Reinvestment Efforts (CORE) Fund, a private nonprofit that has raised funds from several investors including city government for downtown Hamilton redevelopment.
Whereas the former Target Middletown building is owned by the out-of-state-based retailer, the former Elder-Beerman building in Hamilton is under local control.
“What I do know is they were contemplating other locations,” said Jody Gunderson, Hamilton’s economic development director.
“There’s a potential of benefiting a lot more than just local residents,” Gunderson said. “We have to appreciate the fact that we have a great workforce in the region and that we pull workers from each other’s communities.”
The StarTek lead originated with Dayton Development Coalition, which made first contact with the company’s consultants in June 2014, said Marty Hohenberger, vice president of business development for the private economic development agency. The Coalition got a phone call that Dayton-area real estate was under consideration by the company, Hohenberger said.
“We’re not always aware of all their locations, but we did know we were in competition with other states as well,” Hohenburger said.
Under the JobsOhio Network, formed in 2011, the main JobsOhio office in Columbus was involved in talks from the beginning, he said. JobsOhio is a private nonprofit established by Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s administration to lead business attraction and retention efforts statewide. JobsOhio has six regional partners such as REDI Cincinnati and Dayton Development Coalition that act as liaisons between local governments and JobsOhio statewide for negotiating financial incentives.
And while StarTek didn’t find a Dayton-area site to meet the company’s needs, Dayton Development Coalition was able to hand-off the business prospect to its counterpart REDI Cincinnati with the same JobsOhio staffer involved in every step along the way, Hohenberger said.
“We’re all working together. We meet on a regular basis with our counterparts across the state,” Hohenberger said. “As we grow the Ohio pie we all get our fair share.”
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