For the city's part, it secured grant funding for job-ready sites from the state to improve Secrest Road so it would be able to accommodate development in the research park.
"It was sort of a stepping-out kind of thing," Mayor Bob Breneman said. "Almost like 'Field of Dreams,' if you build it, they will come. It was something the team said we needed to do."
"The result is we have a new business at OARDC and some traction for the BioHio Research Park," Crider said.
quasar has a biodigester at its Secrest Road facility where biomass is converted to energy. Gov. Ted Strickland recently toured the facility and liked what he saw. Ohio State University President Gordon Gee also visited the site recently, and he pushed a button to start the process to send energy onto the power grid.
Stephen Myers, Ph.D., director of OBIC, said his group helped quasar with grant writing and invested $600,000 of Ohio Third Frontier funds to help with the facility. OBIC is a networking group that brings academics and industry together to seek commercial applications and products from research done at places like OSU and OARDC.
"quasar brought a significant investment to the community and high-tech, high-paying jobs to go with it," Crider said. "It's the first example of how OARDC and its assets can be leveraged to promote economic development in Wayne County."
WEDC submitted projects in just about every award category, Crider said. Some of the other projects submitted but not making it to the finalist stage were Scotts Miracle-Gro in Orrville for business attraction, Orrvilon (formerly Holtec) for business expansion, Riceland Cabinet for business retention, the Northeast Ohio Regional EB5 Center for foreign investment, Gerstenslager's for workforce development, ABS Materials for fostering entrepreneurship and Orrville Industrial Park for asset creation.
Crider said so many projects were submitted in order to promote Wayne County as a significant part of the Northeast Ohio region and "let everyone see what is going on."
A training program for plant workers is another project finalist. The entities cooperating on the program are Ford Motor Company, United Auto Workers and Cuyahoga Community College.
The third finalist is the Pathways II project, a joint effort of the Vocational Guidance Center, Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities and Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission. The focus is on providing training and counseling to transitional youth with visual disabilities, adults with disabilities and those with developmental disabilities in an effort to secure work.
"In 2009, Northeast Ohio communities and economic development organizations completed 115 projects that created more than 3,200 jobs and more than $1 billion in capital investment," said Tom Waltermire, Team NEO's chief executive officer. "It is important to celebrate the 'wins' that are helping to diversify and advance our economy, and it is critical that the region honor the unsung heroes - - the economic developers, communities, and non-profit organizations -- who fight daily to make progress."
The awards dinner is June 23 at the John S. Knight Center in Akron.
Reporter Bobby Warren can be reached at 330-287-1639 or bwarren@the-daily-record.com He's robwar0100 on Twitter.
