An innovative incentive program designed to rejuvenate blighted sites for future job creation opportunities has led to the revitalization of a long-vacant industrial building in Toledo.
Best One Fleet Services-JAM has announced plans to consolidate operations into a structure on Lewis Avenue in west Toledo. This will allow the company to increase capacity from 30,000 units annually to 50,000-60,000 per year.
The company, with more than 180 employees at 15 sites in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, provides tire, light mechanical, and electrical repairs for commercial truck fleets.
The company chose to consolidate in Toledo because of a desire to maintain its existing workforce. “The pool of talent is simply better in Toledo than we experience elsewhere,” said Bob Myers, project manager at JAM. “The administration and programs are truly business-growth focused. They work with businesses to help them. That’s something others say they do, but rarely follow through on.”
The project received financial support through the JobsOhio Revitalization Program, which provided both a grant and loan toward rehab of the building. The Regional Growth Partnership, which serves as the lead economic development organization for Toledo and Northwest Ohio, helped facilitate those assistance programs through JobsOhio. JAM plans to invest close to $4 million of its own money and create 45 new jobs.
“That JobsOhio program was a huge piece of putting this project together,” Myers said. “It is allowing us to keep our team in Ohio, and specifically Toledo, and almost double our employee count out of this new facility.”
The company expects to be fully operational in the rejuvenated facility sometime this fall.