Keim Lumber to expand with new Baltic facility
Keim Lumber Company is investing $4.5 million in a new warehouse facility in Baltic.
Holmes County commissioners celebrated a milestone on Monday, April 11 when they signed a resolution welcoming the county’s 40th enterprise zone agreement.
The agreement was signed with Keim Lumber Co., which will be building a new facility in the corner of Baltic that resides in Holmes County.
“It’s in a little piece of the village located on state Route 93 that is in Holmes County,” said Mark Leininger, Holmes County director of economic development.
He said ProVia and Genie both currently have facilities in that area, as it continues to grow into a business area.
According to Leininger, Holmes County added that portion of the Village of Baltic to the enterprise zone agreement eligibility in November 2021.
He said the reason for the new facility is Keim is currently out of warehousing space at its Charm facility. He said Keim contacted him about a proposed 130,000-square-foot warehouse facility on land they currently own, which he said is almost 13 acres that has frontage on both state Route 93 and Brickyard Road.
He said one important feature of the land is it has railway access, meaning Keim can utilize the larger shipping train cars to bring in material.
“It will enable them to purchase raw material in larger quantities and realize the savings created by using rail cars,” Leininger said.
The anticipated cost of construction on the new facility is estimated to be $4.5 million, with an additional $500,000 of expenditures on equipment and fixtures. The agreement also states that Keim will commit to creating 19 new positions, four on location at the Baltic facility and an additional 15 support positions at the Charm facility. The agreement also states Keim will retain all its current 568 employees.
The terms of the agreement are the standard 50% tax relief for 10 years, with notices having been sent to the schools and village trustees, both of whom agreed to the terms.
Leininger said he also is in ongoing discussion to find funding to make repairs on Brickyard Road. He said the current street is a combination of cinders and old brick and is not conducive to higher traffic that would take place with the addition of the facility.
“It’s not really in condition to drive a lot of trucks on,” Leininger said. “We are working with Jobs Ohio to see if we can get some funding to improve that street.”
He said in providing grant funding, Jobs Ohio always considers whether a project receives local support, so the enterprise zone agreements are important because it shows Jobs Ohio that the effort does have the local support on its side.
“It will certainly help with those grant applications,” Leininger said. “I appreciate the commissioners’ support with the enterprise zone program in extending this program down to the Village of Baltic. We may have one or two more projects in that portion of the zone, so it should bring good value to that part of the county.”
“Keim is a wonderful company that has been a great company in Holmes County for a long time,” commissioner Joe Miller said. “We are glad to do this for them.”