NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio -- If there’s such a thing as a last-minute stay of economic development execution, North Olmsted officials can relate.
Fortune Brands Innovations earlier this year announced plans to relocate its Moen headquarters -- which employs 350 workers -- to Illinois.
But the Fortune 500 company recently alerted city officials of plans to maintain some level of operation in the 123,000-square-foot North Olmsted building.
“We had several conversations with Moen regarding their location in North Olmsted being strategically significant and equipped with necessary infrastructure to accommodate the demands their laboratory operations require,” Mayor Nicole Dailey Jones said.
“I’m happy to announce that Moen has reconsidered their decision and will keep nearly 100 employees in North Olmsted on a long-term basis.”
North Olmsted Director of Economic and Community Development Max Upton added, “It’s our understanding they’re going to continue to utilize the lab and the first-floor space.
“So it’s good news.”
A Moen company spokesperson told cleveland.com that Fortune Brands Innovations plans to operate its specialized R&D center in North Olmsted.
A press release read, “This technical facility plays an important role in validating and engineering the innovative products that originate in our Deerfield headquarters.
“We have opted to invest in space, equipment and people in North Olmsted to continue this important function.”
Earlier this year, Upton said that through Chicago-based business media, he learned that Moen had invested heavily in its North Olmsted specialty lab equipment, which he stressed was hard to find.
“At 18,000 square feet, it’s an extraordinary operation they have in the basement,” Upton said.
“Then the first floor is probably another 30,000 square feet. So they’re probably keeping 40,000 square feet, plus or minus. That’s their tentative plan right now.”
While the news is positive for the city, the conversation still involves adding new economic development in the existing building.
When Moen announced it was leaving, that was going to represent an estimated $700,000 to $1 million loss in annual income tax.
Upton said the hope is to find new tenants to share the building with Moen.
From a real estate perspective, Moen has yet to decide if it’s going to remain the landlord and lease out space or sell the building and become a tenant.
Nevertheless, the news is all good for North Olmsted.
After the January announcement that Moen was leaving, city officials talked to the Greater Cleveland Partnership, regional economic development partner Team NEO and the state’s private economic development corporation JobsOhio to gauge opportunities and formulate a plan.
Now the city has to be concerned with filling a roughly 80,000-square-foot vacancy instead of the entire 123,000-square-foot building.
“In the office market, a 40,000-square-foot tenant is nothing to sneeze at,” Upton said.
“You don’t catch those kind of fish too often. It’s usually 5,000 to 10,000 square feet.
“To get what I would call an anchor tenant for the building, that’s a huge win,” he said of Moen’s new plans to stay.
Upton complimented Jones’ handling of the bad news earlier this year.
“To the extent our conversations with Moen were productive post-announcement, that led them to be comfortable to want to stay,” he said.
“Had the mayor taken the tack of going fire and brimstone, they might’ve thought twice.
“We had a lot of really good and productive conversations after their announcement. Ultimately, I think those conversations led to them deciding to keep a footprint here in North Olmsted permanently.”