Newsletter: Medina County Economic Development Corporation - Move to help Brunswick reel in Cabela's

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Move to help Brunswick reel in Cabela's

Medina County Gazette, June 1, 2007
By HANNAH SCHAEFER - Staff Writer

MEDINA — Medina County commissioners unanimously approved an impact facility sales tax refund for Nebraska based Cabela's Retail Inc. Thursday morning, provided the company decides to build a store in Brunswick, a city taking several steps to in-crease economic development.

The city has been courting Cabela's — a world-renowned outdoor gear retailer that draws millions of visitors to its stores throughout the United States — since last December, City Manager Robert Zienkowski said.

Randy Goodman of the Cleveland-based Goodman Group LLC, who is overseeing Northeast Ohio site acquisition for Cabela's, said Brunswick is the company's first choice in the region.

"Right now, that's the deal that we're working on, the Brunswick location for Cabela's in Northeast Ohio," Goodman said. "Macedon-ia's pushing for it, but Brunswick is currently the preferred location."

Cabela's has noted Brunswick's proximity to Interstate 71, the Ohio Turnpike and I-71's connectivity to other major highways make the site a good candidate for a store.

Under the agreement commissioners approved, Cabela's would receive payments for 75 percent of the 0.5 percent county sales and use tax collected by the store for 10 years or until the company's investment in the proposed facility has been paid back, whichever occurs first.

County Administrator Chris Jakab said Cabela's refunded tax would not include the 0.5 percent sales tax for county schools voters approved in May or the state's portion of sales tax collected from the store.

Payments probably would begin after Cabela's had been operating for one quarter, Jakab noted.

Commissioner Stephen D. Hambley thanked Wadsworth for being the first to bring the area to Cabela's attention.

"Wadsworth, likewise, did have one of the sites in contention, and they have actually spent the last number of years trying to encourage Cabela's to look at Northeast Ohio," he said.

Cabela's estimated it will cost more than $50 million to create its proposed 125,000 to 150,000 square-foot facility, which would be located east of the Interstate 71 and state Route 303 interchange.

The store could draw 3 million to 3.5 million visitors each year and earn $50 million in annual revenue.

Brunswick Economic De-velopment Director Michele Boczek said a company like Cabela's could draw more retail, commercial and in-dustrial businesses to the city.

"We're also hoping there could be some multiplier effect with attracting other businesses who may find Brunswick an exciting place to move their business," she said. "It may not necessarily be because of Cabela's or retail in general, but then again, it might — we don't know yet."

Along with courting Cabela's, the city has taken several other steps recently to draw business and raise its profile.

New incentive

Cleveland-based grinding and honing company Grind All Inc. will be the first business to receive a grant as part of the city's job creation incentive program.

A company spokeswoman said Grind All will be moving its entire operation to North Industrial Parkway over the summer. The company would bring 47 or 48 new jobs to the city, Boczek said.

An agreement between the company and the city states Brunswick will pay three annual grants of $12,700 — a total $38,100 — after the company has been operating for 12 months.

"The case specifically with Grind All is they're moving into a place where they're going to bring significantly more employees, which due to the payroll tax that they have, the city's going to generate more revenue," city Finance Director Bill White said.

Boczek noted Boss Pet Industries, the company formerly occupying Grind All's new location, had six or seven employees.

"It's a win-win — the city's going to be generating more revenue with them in town, even with the net of the grant that they'll be receiving," White said.

The Ohio Revised Code provides for such grants for economic development, White noted.

The grant would come from the city's general fund, but not from tax revenue. The grant amount will be prorated if Grind All's total payroll falls below $2.2 million.

Not every new business in the city will be eligible for the program, Zienkowski said.

"It can't be where you have a business that opens with just one person — there's got to be a benefit," he said.

Government relations

The city recently contracted the LNE Group, a lobbying firm, to create a strategic plan for expanding the city's relationship with state and federal governments to find more project funding from varied sources and keep up with growth.

The city will pay LNE, which has offices in Cleve-land and Columbus, $24,000 to create the plan over the next several months.

"We've got to focus on every opportunity for offsetting city costs and bringing those dollars we send to the state and federal levels back to Brunswick," Zienkowski said.

LNE Vice President Justin McCaulley said few cities of Brunswick's size are taking a "proactive" approach to plan for future growth and seeking out government funding for projects.

"There are some cities, certainly the larger cities have folks like us, but smaller suburbs like Brunswick, they're not as apt to do it sometimes," he said.

McCaulley would not name the company's other clients, but said LNE works with for-profit and nonprofit corporations, providing lobbying and consulting services to seek funding.

Zienkowski said the city's approach would not only help raise Brunswick's profile, it could provide increased services and benefits for residents.

"I think it raises the standard of living for residents, it helps improve their property values — which again is their biggest investment — and it does provide the ability for the retention and attraction of businesses and residents," Zienkowski said.

Schaefer may be reached at 330-721-4048 or hschaefer@ohio.net.