POWELL — Powell officials on Tuesday moved to create more space to bring a technology-based business campus into the city.
The Powell Development Corporation (PDC) board, formerly known as the Powell Community Improvement Corporation, approved transferring 10 acres of city-owned land to the PDC.
If approved by city council next week, the transfer will allow the PDC to take the Home Road land over via a quitclaim deed, city Economic Development Administrator Sean Hughes said.
Hughes said the land offers an opportunity for the PDC to bring in high-paying jobs to the city in fields such as technology, healthcare and research and development.
“We have an opportunity here with the property and the best way for that opportunity to move forward in an expedited fashion is for the PDC to actually control the land, rather than the city,” Hughes told the board.
He said that’s because as a community improvement corporation, the PDC can be better agents for real estate purposes than cities because they do not have to solicit requests for proposals or qualifications.
Instead, the PDC can select a party it thinks best fits the project, which in this case is creating a flexible-technology park. Hughes already has an interested developer.
“At this point, we’re really just talking about the land transfer itself. I will come back to the board and probably at the September meeting with the auction on the land from that developer,” Hughes said.
The PDC can choose to lease the land to the developer, sell it or become a financial partner in the project financially, Hughes said. It’s about whichever makes the most financial and strategic sense with the developer.
What would a flex-tech park look like in Powell?
Flex-tech parks are adaptable, multi-use buildings combining traditional office space with light industrial use, warehouse space, research and laboratory facilities.
They allow for administrative work and product development in the same unit and are attractive to businesses in the technology and research and development industries.
“From my experience— and I’ve been doing industrial parks for a very long time— these smaller tech flex buildings actually outperform larger industrial buildings in per square foot and payroll,” Hughes said.
Hughes pointed to the $23.7 million Edwards Farms Innovation Center in Hilliard, which wraps office space and warehouse space into two buildings comprising 151,800 square feet.
He envisions Powell could do something similar, estimating a flex-tech park in Powell would:
- Occupy a roughly 135,000 square foot building or buildings.
- Support 231 jobs that would generate an annual payroll of almost $16.2 million.
- Generate payroll taxes of $323,400 at the city’s current 2% income tax rate, according to a memo sent to city council.
The City paid $208,197 per acre of land, Hughes said in the memo. He estimates with the new payroll taxes generated from the flex-tech park, the city would receive 5.37% per year over 15 years in annualized return on investment.
After 15 years, Hughes estimates the total return on investment will be 118.02%.
Hughes hopes to get the ball rolling with a developer by this fall, with the tech-flex park operational by late 2027 to mid 2028.
