Economic Development Success Stories

When Toronto-based Patheon, Inc. was searching for a U.S. location to conduct research and manufacture pharmaceuticals, Hamilton County was able to respond with a site ready-made for what they needed and an economic package to secure the deal.

It was Patheon’s first project in the U.S. and not only retained nearly 500 full-time jobs in this community, but will eventually create 150 new research and development jobs and generate $43 million in capital improvements to the site. HCDC’s Office of Economic Development helped create and approve a tax incentive package that made it possible for Patheon to locate here.

Saving and creating that many jobs was critical for the community, but the Patheon project had an even larger impact. Patheon became part of a high-tech, life science campus that now also includes the University of Cincinnati’s Genome Research Institute and Girindus America, Inc., a German pharmaceutical company. Patheon’s move here reinforced the viability of our community as a prime location for high-tech manufacturing and confirmed support of life science initiatives.

Ford Motor Company
Ford has operated a major transmission plant in the Hamilton County community of Sharonville since the 1950s. The Hamilton County Development Co. has twice played a major role in keeping those good-paying jobs here, the latest being in 2007. Late that year, we worked with Ford officials to secure their investment of $220 million in the plant, an investment that meant keeping at least 1,400 jobs in the community.

It also put Ford and Hamilton County at the front edge of an initiative to improve fuel economy. The plant will produce an innovative six-speed automatic transmission, which allows cars to run more smoothly and increases gas mileage.

HCDC also helped the Sharonville plant stay ahead of the times in 1985, when it was producing a three-speed automatic transmission for a soon-to-be discontinued line of automobiles. HCDC, with the state of Ohio and the municipalities of Lincoln Heights, Glendale, Woodlawn and Sharonville, put together a multi-jurisdictional enterprise zone that, with other state incentives, enabled Ford to make the investments to retool, keep the plant open and save jobs.

Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble’s Ivorydale complex in St. Bernard is an historic manufacturing center in the heart of Greater Cincinnati. When P&G, one of the world’s largest consumer products companies, needed a site to house research for one of its growing business units, HCDC helped guarantee those jobs would stay in Hamilton County. By working to secure enterprise zone tax credits, HCDC helped make the project economically viable for P&G. The substantial project involved the construction of a 140,000 square foot facility in St. Bernard that would eventually become P&G’s Fabric & Home Care Innovation Center. Then, the existing buildings on the Ivorydale site would be renovated. P&G’s total investment has amounted to $108 million. With the project, P&G retained 1,050 full-time permanent jobs and created over 200 additional full-time permanent jobs, with a total annual payroll of approximately $113,000,000.