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The city of Lorain has scored $4 million to create a facility that will reuse sediment scooped out of the Black River.

State Sen. Gayle Manning, R-North Ridgeville, on Dec. 4 announced Ohio State Controlling Board approval of $9.9 million in capital funds for the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority.

The money will be used for three dredge material reuse projects, including in Lorain.

The city will use $4 million for planning, design, permitting and construction of a new Black River Dredge Reuse Facility that will be located on a 30-acre site within a larger reclamation facility owned by the city.

“I am pleased to see these funds released for conservation efforts to ensure the protection of Ohio’s crown jewel,” Manning said. “The General Assembly has worked tirelessly toward a cleaner Lake Erie through the funding of various water quality programs, and this is yet another step to do so.”

The projects were made possible by the Healthy Lake Erie Initiative in legislation known as Senate Bill 299. The money was designated with the goal of reducing open lake dumping of dredged materials by 2020.

The material is sediment and sand that is dredged from the bottom of the Black River to maintain the required depth for freighters to enter and leave the Port of Lorain.

The Morning Journal

Riding the wave of redevelopment along Broadway, Shawn Grieves and Tim Scholl are looking to bring a restaurant and retail store downtown.

The pair bought the building at 422 Broadway and plan to transform what used to be clothing and jewelry stores into Union Town Provisions. It will offer a casual but “delicious” dining experience, offering house-made cheese, charcuterie, sandwiches, pizza, baked goods, wine and preserves.

Read more about this project in The Chronicle

October 24, 2018 – Key stakeholders in the Lorain community joined at the Charleston Coffee House for a special event designed to work toward a strategic plan to reinvigorate the downtown and waterfront of Lorain.

Among those to present downtown initiatives were representatives from the Lorain County Port Authority,USEPA Region 5, and the City of Lorain, as well as members of the Lorain Historical Society, Lorain Public Health, the Lorain Metropolitan Housing Authority, and the Rotary Club of Lorain.

The four focus areas of the workshop were: improving broadband downtown, public/private partnerships, sustainable redevelopment, and investment.

Following the community brief on ongoing projects, Vita Nuova members guided workshop attendees through the PREPARED workshop process and led community exercises and discussions on goal development, opportunities and obstacles action item prioritization, and development of a strategic action item list.

The workshop closed with a presentation on the findings from the Area-Wide Planning Project and a dinner for the community members in attendance at the event.

A report will be generated and posted on this website and this group has committed to meet on a quarterly basis to help implement the steps agreed upon in the workshop.

The workshop was sponsored by the Lorain County Port Authority funded by USEPA’s Land Revitalization Program.

The Northern Ohio chapter of NAIOP will join the USEPA, Lorain County, Lorain Port Authority, Lorain County Board of Commissioners, and Vita Nuova in hosting an Opportunity Zone showcase in Lorain County. The event will highlight opportunities in Lorain, explore the Opportunity Zone program, and demonstrate economic and financial incentives available for sites in the Black River Opportunity Zone. Find more information in the flyer below and sign up for the event here.

Please check out our new Welcome to Lorain Opportunity Video! This video details Lorain’s rich past and presents the wonderful assets and opportunities available in Lorain for a bright future.

There is still time to RSVP to the Expression of Interest Information Session this week.

June 14th, 2018, 1:00 PM
City of Lorain Port Authority
319 Black River Lane
Lorain, OH 44052

RSVP: warren@vitanuova.net

On March 21st the Lorain County Board of Commissioners learned that the State has nominated 5 tracts within Lorain County to be Opportunity Zones as part of the Investment in Opportunity Act. The nomination of 5 tracts, 4 in Lorain and 1 in Elyria, is notable as it is more than double the number of tracts that were nominated within other counties similarly situated within the region.

The Investment in Opportunity Act was signed into law in December 2017 as part of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act.  The law seeks to bolster economically depressed areas across the U.S. by offering deferred taxes and significant tax breaks to those parties willing to sustain investment in low-income areas.  Incentives for a broad array of investors in designated “Opportunity Zones” will deploy capital in vulnerable and underserved areas at a low risk to investors. Opportunity Zones will act as a compliment to the New Market Tax Credit Program to help underserved communities promote community development projects.  

The Benefits to Selected Opportunity Zones include:

• Investors may temporarily defer the recognition of capital gains that are invested in the Opportunity Zones. A new class of private investment vehicles called “Opportunity Funds”, which are investment vehicles organized as corporations or partnerships that hold at least 90% of their assets in opportunity zone assets, have been created.
• Investments in Opportunity Zones or Opportunity Funds that are held for at least five years are eligible for capital gains tax reductions, and investments held for at least 10 years are eligible for capital gains exemptions.
• As the incentives are linked to the duration of the investor’s commitment to the Opportunity Zone rather than an upfront subsidy, the program provides an incentive for investors to re-invest their capital gains in Opportunity Funds to provide patient capital for low-income communities.

Furthermore, Lorain County will benefit directly from the opportunity zone designation through:

• Attraction of new type of investors into a project area,
• Expansion of capital to fund redevelopment,
• Encourages local reinvestment in community,
• Strengthens financial security in areas adjacent to designated tracts.

Team NEO, the Fund, Lorain City Port Authority and City of Lorain worked together on the request for nominations, which made the Lorain requests attractive to the State which put a priority on tracts that had regional support.

Commissioner Lundy stated “The announcement that the County now has 5 Opportunity Zones nominated by the State will allow us and our partners to have every tool we can provide available to stay competitive, drive investment and create jobs in our two downtown areas and our waterfront in Lorain.”

“Working with local and regional partners allowed us to pull together a strong list of tracts that were nominated. Now we will be working to see these zones put to work and attract needed investment in our communities through the actions of the County and its partners in the Port, Land Bank and the cities of Lorain and Elyria.” said Commissioner Kalo.

Each of the nominated tracts in the City of Lorain were located within a planning area designated by the County and funded by the USEPA. This planning effort will result in 6 strategic developable land areas being brought to market. The designation of these as Opportunity Zones should enhance the level and speed of development.

The tracts nominated were:

• 39093097300 – Downtown Lorain with Broadway Hotel redevelopment and Black River Landing
• 39093022400 – Finger piers and First Energy lakefront land
• 39093023100 – US Steel and Republic with announcement of pig iron line – Job Hub
• 39093023000 – Riverbend Commerce Park, Rowland Property and Emerson Buildings
• 39093070800 – Downtown Elyria Streetscape and TLCI Plan – County Investment – Developers – Job Hub

For additional information please call 440-328-2322 and ask for Don Romancak.