VILLAGE OF EVENDALE
COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT CORPORATION
Minutes for the May 27, 2014, 2014 Meeting
Evendale Municipal Building, 10500 Reading Road, Evendale, Ohio
Attendees: Members Tom Kuechly, Al Pearlman, Chris Schaefer, Chris Patterson (Planning Commission Liaison), Sean Balnes (Saint Francis Group), John Vollbracht (Saint Francis Group), Al Schutte (Resident), Stiney Vonderhaar (Resident), Jack Cameron (Administrative Assistant to the Mayor), and Pam Morin (Building Department Clerk).
Chris Schaefer conducted the meeting in the absence of Hugh McKinnon.
Recurring Business:
1. Approval of the minutes from the April 22, 2014 meeting was tabled until the next meeting.
New Business:
1. No Economic Development report due to time constraints.
2. St. Francis Group Monthly Activity Report – Sean Balnes contacted the realtor representing Gordon Geraci/Elite Photography. Asking price is somewhere between $700,000 and $900,000 but the property has not been listed yet. Based on the market this price per acre is too high. The CIC members agreed that the asking price is too high to even entertain a discussion about acquiring or trying to make arrangements to include in the area for development. Sean will talk to the realtor to understand his price analysis. It was agreed that the focus for CIC should be on the area south of Inwood Drive.
Sean and John Vollbracht have continued to talk with David Linger, University of Cincinnati Research Institution (UCRI) CEO, Greg Morris, founder of Morris Technology, and Joe Sprengard, President and CEO of General Nano LLC. Their conversations focused on a business incubator targeting advanced manufacturing at the Village Landing property at I – 75 and St. Rita Lane. All three were interested in this type of development and feel it is needed in the market and would be great timing for the advanced manufacturing market, especially as it relates to GE Aviation. The feedback that Sean and John received was that the location along I-75 corridor and the proximity to GE Aviation was a solid asset, being in close proximity to Cincinnati State would be attractive because they could provide a good source for work force
training, Cincinnati has developed the most aerospace businesses in the Tri-State area, and there currently appears to be a void in this type of manufacturing.
During their conversation with David Linger they learned that GE, in Louisville, is currently creating a concept for their appliance division. This project is referred to as First Build Louisville and is based on GE, University of Louisville and City of Louisville support. The effort is to foster a physical and intellectual facility where GE engineers and students can explore advances in the appliance technology and manufacturing. First Build Louisville is currently under construction.
Al Pearlman asked about the revenue this type of development would bring in. Sean expects that earnings tax revenues would be limited, but this development would strengthen Evendale’s relationship with GE Aviation and establish a direction for the Village in regard to supporting advanced manufacturing, technology, and companies interested in these areas. The revenue benefits would be longer term and the Village would need to have plans for where companies could grow or locate in the Village.
Chris Patterson would like to see more than just verbal support from UCRI and the private sector and feels that their support would be critical to this type of development.
Sean explained that to market this type of development would require a significant amount of time and feels that the success of the project is contingent on being proactive and marketing/branding this development. At this point in the conversation the support from the private sector has not been verified. In order to make sure the CIC/Village is not expected to finance every aspect of this proposed development, Chris Schaefer proposed that St. Francis formalize some benchmarks to provide to CIC in the next week which would demonstrate the level of support available from the private sector. Especially the with the companies Sean has had discussion. These benchmarks will be presented at the next CIC meeting which has been tentatively set for the last week in July. This will give the CIC members the ability to
gage whether there is support from the private sector or just a willingness to be involved if someone else assumes all the risk.
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