GE has selected the Cincinnati-area to open the shared services center, but has yet to name a final site within the market to build it.
“The deadline was today for proposals from developers,” said Eric Hansen, Mason city manager, on Friday. The city worked with a developer to provide information. Hansen declined to name the developer due to a nondisclosure agreement signed with GE.
“I can tell you from Mason’s perspective, like on any of these, we’re very aggressive and we’ll put our best foot forward for any business, and especially GE,” Hansen said.
“From what they indicated, they want to move rapidly,” he said.
The new GE service center will create 1,400 new jobs in the state. Some jobs will be positions transferred from other GE locations nationwide and consolidated to Cincinnati. The share of jobs to be transferred to Cincinnati, and the share of jobs for which the company will be hiring was not disclosed.
Some jobs will also be transferred from other sites in Ohio, bringing total employment at the center when it opens in 2017 to the range of 1,500 to 2,000, according to GE.
Speculation is that potential final sites include The Banks riverfront development in downtown Cincinnati; Oakley, a neighborhood in Cincinnati; and Mason, in Warren County.
Earlier this week, Bengals officials and Hamilton County government reached an agreement in efforts to lure the conglomerate's office tower downtown.
Both sides announced a series of concessions, modifications and amendments to preexisting deals regarding restrictions to construction projects at The Banks in exchange for the right to make tens of millions of dollars’ worth of upgrades at Paul Brown Stadium. The Bengals can also participate in a handful NFL games scheduled overseas, per the new deal.
“We are grateful to the state, the county and the city for their hard work in attracting GE to Southwest Ohio,” said Bengals president Mike Brown.
While he wouldn’t release details about the specific requirements listed in the application, Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Hartmann said if the Bengals didn’t decide to remove a height restriction from their contract with the county, which owns the stadium, the application for The Banks location couldn’t have moved forward.
The football club’s decision to waive height restrictions at the riverfront development will allow construction on Phase IIA of The Banks projects to commence. That includes nearly 300 new apartments and 20,000-square-feet of retail space that can now be built to upwards of 12 to 14 stories high.
“It’s been a rocky relationship between the county and the Bengals in the past but I think we can put that behind us now,” Hartmann said. “I’m thrilled about this new partnership and agreement.”
Casey Weldon is a reporter for our news partner WCPO 9 On Your Side.
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