Hopes remain for more jobs at tech development
Original post by Everdeen Mason via DaytonDailyNews
SPRINGFIELD — Millions of public dollars helped develop a high-tech park that has nearly 200 acres of vacant land and has yet to create the number of jobs expected.
NextEdge Applied Research and Technology Park was hailed as Springfield’s future when manufacturing losses mounted last decade.
About $6.3 million in public funding was spent on infrastructure and another $3.1 million was spent on the Mills Morgan office building that houses businesses such as Qbase and Science Applications International Corporation.
The park now has three buildings and five companies that employ an estimated 100 people.
Major players in the park, such as the Turner Foundation and the city of Springfield, said the park is a success and will be viable later.
“The project itself is still secure,” said Tom Franzen, the city’s economic development administrator.
Franzen said the goal of NextEdge was to have a functional site complete with utilities and infrastructure to attract businesses to the area.
“From a long-term approach, it’s still a good idea,” he said. “It was a good investment to help attract (high-tech) types of industries.”
One of the businesses attracted, Qbase, received more than $4.3 million in public money to locate in Springfield and bring jobs. Qbase, along with Newport SpectraPhysics, did not return calls and has not disclosed the amount of jobs created.Franzen said the park has generated tax revenue from occupied and vacant land. For the three occupied properties in NextEdge, a total of more than $265,780 in property taxes was paid last year, according to the county auditor’s office. Franzen said those properties also provide utility payment revenue and income tax revenue.
