An Italian energy solutions manufacturer is putting down roots in Trotwood.
It’s the first American plant for Westrafo. The power transformer manufacturer’s move to Trotwood is expected to create 230 new jobs.
Chad Downing, executive director of the Trotwood Community Improvement Corporation, spoke to WYSO about the impact of the move and how this is just more good news for the community.
This has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Chad Downing: This project is going to be the second phase of what we called the Gated Industrial Park Project. Phase one was to build a 200,000-square-foot spec building. Técnicote, who’s now going to go by Beontag has moved into that and is beginning operations there.
Westrafo is going to be moving into a building that has yet to be built. It is beginning the initial construction phases now, with site clearing and final prep. It has cleared the zoning requirements for final PUD from City Council, which occurred several weeks ago here. Right now, this project has a very fast trajectory to be opened by June 1 of next year. So hopefully by this time next year, we’ll be talking about how the operations have started.
“We’ve wanted to see new housing starts in the community, especially in the single-family arena. We’re very confident this is going to help induce that.”
They had a strong desire to be in the greater Dayton area. A lot of connections to organizations like Miami Valley CTC for workforce development, training and partnerships.
But we in Trotwood found ourselves in a situation where this company needed some quick options.
Their prior opportunity had fallen away from them and we — working with our team and the rest of the city department staff — were able to put together a proposal to attract them and deliver on exactly what they needed here, which was a state-of-the-art facility that’s built to suit exactly what they need with their special operations, in a way that was economical and that they can hire the workforce and have all the resources that they need.
We were in competition with some of our peer communities, and we’re really proud that, with the team we’ve assembled, we were able to put together a winning package and bring them here to what is a developing corporate community in the Trotwood Industrial Park.
Jerry Kenney: You mentioned the need for a “plan B” because something fell through, I assume. Is, it typical that you can get something like a plan B together this quickly in Trotwood?
Downing: You know, it’s it’s kind of a trend for us that starting here.
Técnicote was in a similar situation in some ways where their first option didn’t work for various reasons, and they needed an option. We were able to come together with our close partners at Gated Properties Global, a true public private partnership, and put together a plan and a package that that worked well for them.
That was a little bit of a different story, because we had a building built and we just needed to fit them into it. And now they’re finishing out their $60 million of equipment and tenant improvements to that location and will be occupying it here into this fall.
But with Westrafo, it was start from scratch from square one, design and develop a product that will work well for them and be economically competitive. We couldn’t just build anything. It had to be something that could meet the mark and in their time frame especially.
Kenney: So with that industrial park, it sounds like Westrafo is simply adding to the good economic news there in Trotwood.
Downing: Oh, this for the people of Trotwood. This is going to help deliver a handful of things that we’ve all wanted to see for many years. Number one, more great job opportunities. These are going to be high skilled jobs. There’s going to be great opportunities to work through Miami Valley CTC and other institutions in the region to become qualified to work at these jobs. Again, the company’s going to be manufacturing transformers and similar type electrical components.
It’s going to be 230,000-square-foot-plus facility with office space. This is going to be their first American location. So a lot of their corporate activities will be happening here.
Beyond that, some of the other amenities that we want to see in the community are going to be induced from this. We’re hopeful to see additional restaurants coming online to serve the need.
With the need for housing, we’ve wanted to see new housing starts in the community, especially in the single-family arena. We’re very confident this is going to help induce that. This company is going to be bringing 230 jobs. But when you look at everything else happening in the industrial park with Equipment Chair bringing 25, they’ll be opening later this year and again Beontag/Técnicote bringing over 230 as well. We’re going to be just around 500 new employees around this time next year.
That’s going to have significant residual impacts to the community. So we’re hopeful to see more development along Main Street, and that this will help induce further development in our key corridors, like with Consumer Square, the former mall site, and Salem Avenue.