Strickland Gets Big Win on Jobs Front: 1,339 Averaging $70,192 Moving To Cincinnati

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Kentucky got shut out, and Ohio gets a new corporate headquarters for its growing medical research industry. An incentive package that locks Medpace Inc.'s corporate headquarters into Ohio was approved Monday by the state Controlling Board. Medpace, founded in 1992, is an expanding pharmaceutical research company that plans to have 1,339 employees on its new corporate campus in Cincinnati by 2014. It will be adding more than 800 new jobs to its workforce. Public records available in Columbus show the company considered moving into Kentucky. But incentives from from Ohio and Cincinnati cut its estimated tax load by about $7.5 million over the next 8 years. Officials estimate $41.7 million in corporate and income taxes will be generated for Cincinnati and the state. Gov. Ted Strickland's administration helped nail down the deal. His GOP opponent, John Kasich, spent Tuesday claiming Ohio was killing jobs with red tape, high taxes and an unfriendly business climate. Kasich didn't mention Medpace, and may not even know about the state's efforts to snag the corporate headquarters from Kentucky.

Medpace's new campus will be on 29 acres that had been the site of Nutone Inc., a manufacturing company that closed and left the property. The state's aid package includes $3 million in Clean Ohio funds for remediation. The packet submitted to the Controlling Board for approval Jan. 11 shows:

"Upon completion of remediation, the currently vacant 29.14-acre site will be turned into the development at Red Bank and Madison [a major intersection on Cincinnati's east side]. Medpace, a drug research company, will relocate and expand its operations on the project property. The redevelopment will result in the creation of 800 new jobs and retention of 535 existing jobs by 2014. The development plan also includes 430,000 square feet of mixed use space, 50,000 square feet of retail space, and eight to 10 towhhomes. The project plans are in alignment with the GO Cincinnati plan. The development partner, RBM Development Company LLC, will contributed $6, 543,686 in matching dollars for prior expenses, acquisition and remediation activities."