Hankook announces major Clarksville plant expansion

Posted on | by Christopher Anthony

Jimmy Settle | Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle  February 24, 2021

Hankook Tire confirmed Wednesday morning it is embarking on the phase 2 expansion of the South Korean-owned Clarksville tire plant, that will bring its total investment in Clarksville thus far to about $1 billion.

The Leaf-Chronicle reached out to Hankook early this week and in response, received a written statement from the company about its Clarksville plans.

“As part of Hankook’s fourth-quarter earnings results, Hankook announced plans to expand its Tennessee plant, located in Clarksville, Tenn.

As part of phase 2, the company plans to invest almost $91 million, plus more than $270 million for maintenance.

“Upon completion of phase two,” Hankook’s statement said, “the Tennessee plant’s annual production capacity will double to 10 million tires, and the total investment will be approximately $1 billion,” the company said.

Hankook’s phase 2 expansion will include the construction of a new building on the grounds of the existing Tennessee plant located off International Boulevard in the southern portion of the Corporate Business Park.

As a result of the expansion, Hankook says it plans to add a currently-unspecified number of additional jobs “and looks forward to continuing to work with the great people of Tennessee,” the company’s statement said.

The plant currently has just under 1,000 employees through its initial $800 million investment in Clarksville. Phase 1 of the Tennessee plant was completed and operational in 2017, and has annual production capacity of about 5 million Hankook tires.

“Over time, Hankook has shifted a substantial volume of production to its Tennessee plant as part of its strategy to diversify production,” said the company statement. “Hankook also has optimized production through human resource planning and equipment adjustments.”

Hankook has 1.5 million square feet of manufacturing, warehousing and distribution, and administrative space in Clarksville, currently.

The company has been regarded in the recruiting realm as one of the biggest industrial scores not only in Clarksville history, but the southeast region.

Company officials have said they were attracted to Clarksville by the availability of a suitable site off Interstate 24, the quality of the local workforce, and a cooperative government along with good utilities.

Several large automakers — Hankook customer targets — are in close proximity to Clarksville, and that was a plus working in the community’s favor as well when Hankook was searching for potential U.S. manufacturing locations.

Hankook tire production in Clarksville was launched in Clarksville four years ago at a rate of 6,000 tires per day, heading toward a near-term goal of 10,000 per day, which is enough to generate 24 daily shipments out of the plant and into the combined U.S., Mexican and Canadian marketplace. Officials say they want to continue expanding upon that level of productivity.

Since its grand opening, the company had pledged to continue growing in Clarksville, and officials say they remain on schedule with that promise, as this phase 2 announcement attests.

The Hankook investment now hovering around $1 billion tops the list of major industrial development in Clarksville.

Other major business scores here have included a Google data center at about $600 million, LG Electronics’ phase 1 washing machine plant at around $350 million, and the recently announced Microvast electric automotive battery plant, at $220 million.

 

First look at Sandusky Mall homes

Posted on | by Christopher Anthony

 

Andy Ouriel

Feb 13, 2021 11:00 AM

PERKINS TWP. — A local zoning board recently gave one necessary go-ahead for the Sandusky Mall and its parent company to proceed with a major transformative project.

Before construction can begin in an area near Cinemark Stadium movie theater, however, Perkins Township trustees still need to approve the plan.

A public meeting to review the documents is scheduled for 8 a.m. Feb. 23 at Township Hall, 2610 Columbus Ave.

Before this session happens, Melanie Murray, the township’s urban planner, offered up some additional insight so community members can better understand what could happen:

  • “The Sandusky Mall Co. and Sandusky Development Co. submitted an application to rezone properties … in order to accommodate the proposed use of a multi-tenant residential complex with at least 113 units. Without the requested change, the proposed project would not comply with the maximum density requirements.”
  • “Surrounding land uses in the subject area are residential and commercial in nature. Approximately 32 acres in total will be rezoned. About half of that land will be developed with the 113-plus units. The other portion will be developed in the future.”
  • “The proposed heights of the units appear to be 1 to 1.5 stories, which would be compatible with adjacent properties.”
  • “The units will be clustered into different variations of the number of units, sharing walls, and all units will have an attached one- or two-car garage.”
  • “The applicant is interested in starting construction as soon as practical if the requested zoning change is approved by the board of township trustees. Specifically, if approval is granted, the applicant proposes groundbreaking in May of 2021.”
  • “Further details — landscaping and photometric drawings, final layout, utilities and traffic circulation — will be required before the final approval to the project is given.”

This portion represents somewhere between a $12 million to $13 million investment.

More on the mall’s plans

This residential component represents just one piece of Cafaro Co’.s overall mission to make the Sandusky Mall a more viable property. The Cafaro Co. owns the Sandusky Mall, which debuted in the mid-1970s. It remains the region’s only major shopping center within a 30-mile radius.

In 2018, the company began Sandusky Mall’s remodel to attract new tenants while adjusting for evolving shopping habits.

Remodeling the mall in phases can better cater toward a mixed-use property. This means, in addition to retail, it can offer entertainment, offices, restaurants and residential space.

What’s already been accomplished: turning portions of the old Sears into Hobby Lobby.

Meanwhile, work continues on splitting up the former Macy’s location into spaces for three smaller tenants.

“Our people are talking with popular retailers right now to fill spaces,” company spokesman Joe Bell previously told the Register.

He said the discussions were going well, but Cafaro couldn’t release what companies it was in talks with to become tenants.

Opinion: Jim Ross: Huntington Mall found the right spot for success

Posted on | by Christopher Anthony

The Huntington Mall has seen its 40th anniversary. Yet the cold hard truth is that the mall shouldn’t have been built in the Ona area. It should have been built in downtown Huntington, where it would have created a retail hub that would breathe life into the city’s central business district.

The first sentence in the above paragraph is a statement of fact. The second and third sentences are opinions believed by many people who were around when the mall was built, but they are false.

The mall was built where it should have been built.
Several years ago a car dealership relocated from downtown Huntington to the mall area. The dealership’s owner told me that market research showed people who lived east of the mall — Milton, Hurricane and elsewhere — were willing to travel as far west as the mall to shop, while people west of the mall — Huntington, Kenova and parts of Ohio — would travel as far east as the mall. Thus, the mall had found the sweet spot to draw from a wide market.

That was before the Merritt Creek Farm and Tanyard Station developments a couple of miles west of the mall. They undoubtedly draw from the same market as the Huntington Mall.

There is no way a mall in downtown Huntington, at the Hal Greer exit or the 29th Street exit would have attracted the same number of stores and hotels on its outer rim as the Huntington Mall has. Just building a mall is no guarantee of its long-term success. Had a mall been built downtown, it could have had the same problems the Charleston Town Center has had. In addition to that, the presence of the Town Center certainly didn’t prevent the retail developments on Corridor G south of Charleston.

While the mall may have contributed to some of downtown Huntington’s problems, it’s not the primary culprit. Downtown Huntington’s problems are the same as many other downtowns in the Ohio Valley. Since the mall opened, locally owned banks have been bought up by national, superregional and regional chains. The retail environment has rewarded big box stores at the expense of family-owned ones. And for any number of reasons, the Baby Boomers and Generation X have not had the same enthusiasm for entrepreneurship that their parents had.
An older generation in Huntington tended to complain about things that didn’t happen. They complained about Interstate 64 being routed south of town instead of through town, but they never said which neighborhoods they wanted to destroy to make that happen. Likewise they complained that the mall should have been built in town.

Much of that generation has passed on, leaving one that has no memory of downtown Huntington or life in general in these parts before the mall. People younger than 45 grew up with the mall having always been there. While one generation fought over where it should be built, this younger one will use its market power to decide how long the mall remains a vital part of our economy.