German manufacturer Viega announces move to Shalersville industrial park

A second building is coming to the 475-acre industrial park in Shalersville Township, eventually bringing nearly 70 new jobs with it.

Viega LLC, an American subsidiary of Germany-based Viega Group, recently announced its plans to construct a 180,000-square-foot plant in the area, which is fueled by a Joint Economic Development District between Shalersville and Streetsboro. The JEDD allows the city and township to share revenue generated by income taxes in the area.

Viega plans to initially create 68 full-time positions, generating $3.6 million in new annual payroll, according to the Ohio Tax Credit Authority.

Viega expects to break ground in November and hopes to complete the project by early 2025, according to a press release on the company's website. The company plans to occupy 80 acres of the industrial park, which is located northwest of the Ohio Turnpike interchange, and invest $200 million into the factory.

Although construction on a 1-million-square-foot building was recently completed in the JEDD area, the building still doesn't have a tenant. Viega is the first announced tenant in the JEDD area, said Patrick O'Malia, economic development director for Streetsboro.

What does Viega do?

The Viega Group was founded in 1899 by Franz-Anselm Viegener, who got his start by creating an innovative brass beer tap, according to the company's website. The firm expanded into the manufacture of home plumbing products and eventually became a global supplier of compression press fittings for metal pipes and valves. Older methods of joining pipes together involved soldering pipes with flux and solder via a heat treatment process, but Viega pioneered the ability to crimp a fitting to pipes by compressing the joints together, the company said.

Viega employs almost 5,000 people around the world and produces more than 17,000 products and systems. The Shalersville facility would be Viega's first operation in Ohio and would focus on metal production.

"This new facility in Ohio, along with recent investments in our existing Kansas facility, further supports our growing demand and is part of Viega’s plan to increase North American production," said Markus Brettschneider, CEO and president of Viega LLC, in a press release. "We look forward to expanding our presence in this part of the country to further support our customers."

Multiple tax incentives

Streetsboro officials said the city and township had competition for Viega from other states, and "multiple layers of tax incentives" were used to lure the business.

The Portage County Port Authority issued a "sales tax exemption," which will make construction materials exempt from sales tax if they are used for erecting the building — an incentive that is expected to save Viega $1.5 million on its construction project.

JobsOhio and TeamNEO also offered a grant to reimburse costs associated with infrastructure, build out or machinery and equipment, as well as a job creation tax credit that will rebate a percentage of the new jobs’ contributions to the Ohio income tax, an estimated value of $315,000 over eight years, O'Malia said. Trustees have agreed, contingent on Viega joining the JEDD, to offer a 60% real property tax abatement to Viega for a 10 years, which is expected to save the company $5.4 million over 10 years.

“By bringing multiple parties to the table to help us bring this deal to fruition, we were able to lessen the amount of abatement we had to provide at the township level,” Streetsboro Mayor Glenn Broska said. “A full 40% will still find its way back to our friends in Shalersville as well as the Mantua-Shalersville Fire District and Crestwood schools.

"While no one likes tax abatement, these dollars would not have appeared if we didn’t manage to bring Viega into the JEDD," Broska continued. "It’s a bit like dreaming about what you’d do if you won the lottery. It’s a nice thought to have extra money, but you can’t spend a dime until you place a bet and actually win.”

A win for the JEDD

O'Malia said Viega must first petition to join the JEDD before the city can formally offer tax incentives to the company.

Under the JEDD agreement, income taxes will be split between the city and the township, with 65% of the funds going to Shalersville and the remaining 35% going to Streetsboro. The city and township also are required to contribute equally to a fund used to pay for maintenance and permanent improvements to roads inside the JEDD. Shalersville is responsible for administering the fund.

A JEDD is the only way for townships to collect income tax, according to Ohio law.

Shalersville Township Trustee Frank Ruehr, Jr. previously said that while all tenants of the industrial park would be encouraged to petition to enter the JEDD area, they are not automatically covered by the JEDD until they do so.

“We had many options for creating the JEDD with other municipal partners, but in the end we chose Streetsboro because they have a proven track record of closing these kinds of deals,” Ruehr said. “Over the past few years, Streetsboro has done an excellent job of attracting new businesses and jobs, and the Viega announcement was the caliber of project we wanted to have as part of our tax base with quality manufacturing jobs.

"Streetsboro has been a good partner to us, but we wanted to make sure that the JEDD contract included language that we would not be subject to later annexation," Ruehr added. "We like our township just the way it is, but we have mounting financial obligations that the JEDD will help us not only address but thrive with."

He said the township estimates that Viega’s payroll will bring about $44,000 in income taxes to the township annually, plus another $7,000 annually for infrastructure improvement and additional property taxes. "That is a major shot in the arm for us," he said.

“When we created the JEDD with Streetsboro, attracting these kinds of manufacturing jobs were exactly what we had hoped for,” said Ronnie Kotkowski, a Shalersville township trustee. “This project has been in discussions for over a year, and we are excited to welcome them to the JEDD.  This kind of investment will really help our township finances and help pay for needed improvements.”

Akron Beacon Journal reporter Eric Marotta contributed to this story.Reporter Diane Smith can be reached at 330-298-1139 or dsmith@recordpub.com.

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: First tenant announced in Shalersville industrial park