Local manufacturing business to acquire parcel on former Davey Drill site
- Margaret Lennox
Copen Machine, a manufacturing company in Kent, is planning to acquire three parcels of land located on 200 W. Williams St.
The parcels, which border the Erie Railroad tracks along Mogadore Road, were the subject of a zoning debate a few months ago.
Extensive remediation is required due to the amount of environmental contaminants on the site, including lead and other hazardous materials.
The Portage County Land Reutilization Corp (Land Bank) received a Brownfield grant award of $1,753,964.00 to remediate the former Davey Drill site. The State of Ohio is contributing $438,591 (25% of the grant amount). And the City of Kent and Hometown Bank, which owns the land, are splitting their own 25% contribution, each paying $219,245.50.
At the Feb. 4 regular council committee meeting, Kent City Council approved a $450,000 loan request from Copen Machine in order to purchase the property from the current owner, Hometown Bank.
The loan would be paid back in seven to nine years, and remediation to industrial standards would take at least three years, according to Community Development Director Bridget Susel.
The purchase of the parcels would allow Copen Machine to expand, employing more people in one of the few remaining industrial sectors in downtown Kent.
“With the acquisition of the railyard, we will be able to satisfy not only our long-term business growth needs, but also many of the needs that the neighbors expressed concerns of in the South End. I know many of the neighbors and we care greatly about it,” CEO Travis Copen said at the meeting.
Copen Machine currently employs around four dozen employees, several of which are Kent Roosevelt graduates. Copen’s long-term goal is to develop the site into a state-of-the-art manufacturing campus.
Some council members expressed concern about increased traffic in the area once the building is up and running, but Copen said increased traffic would likely not be a problem.
Correction: An earlier version of this article provided incorrect figures for the cost of the land restoration.
Margaret Lennox