CELINA, OH— Agracel, Inc. will begin the development of a 50,000-square-foot facility at the SiteOhio Authenticated Growing Acres Industrial Park in Celina, Ohio. The SiteOhio Authentication designation makes it among Ohio’s top sites for commercial development.

“The demand for speculative development is high due to the void of industrial buildings in the area,” said Agracel, Inc. President Ryan Witges. “Since there are no similar current spaces available, collaborating on such a project will help the region continue to grow and expand.”

Located in Mercer County, Growing Acres Industrial Park has access to an abundant labor force market of over 200,000 within a 45-mile radius. The 50,000-square-foot building will be expandable up to 300,000 square feet and will target advanced manufacturing, automotive, aerospace and defense, food processing, and logistics and distribution companies as end users.

“This building will be the first speculative industrial development built in Mercer County in decades,” said Mercer County Economic Development Director Jared Ebbing. “We look forward to this development and its future phases as we work toward attracting more businesses to the Dayton Region.”

This project was made possible due to the close partnership between Agracel, Mercery County, JobsOhio, and the Dayton Development Coalition. The project also received support from the Ohio Department of Development Rural Industrial Park Loan Program (RIPL). The RIPL promotes economic development by providing low-interest direct loans to assist eligible applicants in financing the development and improvement of industrial parks and related off-site public infrastructure improvements.

JobsOhio approved an Ohio Site Inventory Program (OSIP) grant. OSIP offers grants and low-interest loans to support speculative site and building development projects with no identified end user. The primary goal of OSIP is to fill gaps in Ohio’s real estate inventory with real estate targeting near-term sector wins to ensure our state is more competitive for reactive site selection projects.

“Through outstanding collaboration with our local partners and JobsOhio assistance, Agracel, Inc. will establish the first speculative building in Mercer County in decades,” said Dayton Development Coalition Executive Vice President of Regional Development Julie Sullivan.“Given the lack of industrial vacancy in Mercer County and west central Ohio, this new development is critical to allow the market to grow.”