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Columbus, Ohio – Marker Development LLC, an affiliate of Marker, Inc., broke ground on 200,000 square feet of new speculative construction at Peak Industrial Park in Bellefontaine, Ohio, investing more than $14 million. The development will be comprised of two new 100,000-square-foot institutional-grade speculative buildings, demisable in 20,000-square-foot increments.
“Our family has been operating in the Logan County and Columbus Region for three generations and more than 65 years, so we are honored to be impacting Logan County’s growth with this new development,” said Marker Development President and General Counsel Kirk Marker. “We would like to thank JobsOhio and our longtime local partners for the support to move the project forward and for working tirelessly with us to make Logan County a hotspot for new and expanding industrial operations.”
These institutional grade facilities will set a new standard for Peak Industrial Park and be an attractive option for major employers in the manufacturing, warehousing and distribution sectors. These two industrial flex buildings will be supported by complete utility and road infrastructure to serve 110 industrial zoned acres. The project will provide a Class A hard wall structure in the Logan County market, where lease rates have historically not supported a structure of this quality. With the help of JobsOhio’s Ohio Site Inventory Program (OSIP) grant, Marker Development is constructing Logan County’s first industrial speculative development project in more than a decade.
“This investment in Bellefontaine will establish Logan County’s first speculative site with assistance from JobsOhio and its partners,” said Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. “When complete, the Peak Industrial Park will be an ideal destination for businesses to rapidly establish new operations and create hundreds of new jobs for Ohioans.”
In 2020, the Logan County Chamber of Commerce, City of Bellefontaine, Logan County officials and Marker unveiled Peak Industrial Park, a 110-acre industrial park created to increase the availability of shovel-ready industrial land and speculative industrial buildings for new and expanding businesses. To fulfill Ohio’s need for speculative site inventory, JobsOhio also launched the Ohio Site Inventory Program in 2020, offering grants and low-interest loans to support projects with no identified end user. The OSIP grant funds are a vital component of the capital stack for Marker’s new construction, assisting to close the funding gap for this project and adding inventory to a submarket that has maintained a historically low vacancy of less than 1% for more than five years.
“Marker’s development will help Logan County tackle a challenge that has faced our community for more than a decade,” said Logan County Chamber of Commerce & Community Improvement Corporate President Ben Vollrath. “Today’s groundbreaking is a milestone event for our business community, so we are appreciative of Marker’s community-minded vision as well as the support offered by the OSIP program to bring this project to fruition.”
Logan County is home to thriving communities like Indian Lake, West Liberty and Bellefontaine. The county is situated at the highest point in Ohio and is only 60 minutes to Downtown Columbus. Logan County offers affordable land prices and low property tax, resulting in more accessible startup and operating costs and thriving industry. Logan County has 46,150 residents and nearly 10,000 people commute into the county daily to work.
“The Peak Industrial Park in Bellefontaine is exactly what we had in mind when launching speculative development assistance,” said JobsOhio President and CEO J.P. Nauseef. “Logan County is gaining a new edge in attracting businesses to the area as Ohio and our communities continue to aggressively pursue proactive and reactive site selection projects.”
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About Marker Development
Marker Development, and its affiliate Marker, Inc., is a full-service development and construction firm with over 140 associates and two fully staffed offices in Bellefontaine and Columbus. Our portfolio of work includes both public and private work with a primary focus in civic, commercial, education, healthcare, industrial, multi-family, mixed-use, senior living, recreational, and religious markets.
At Marker Development, every project is a passion project. We are game changers in the commercial development and construction space. We are a team of evolutionaries; seekers of the solutions for complex problems with our sights set on improving the status quo. We push boundaries with our blueprints, framing every design with originality and authenticity – always building better. Founded in 1956, our literal and figurative foundations cement our promise of safety and security for our stakeholders. Being a trusted resource in our communities for the past 65 years means everything to us. We build every space as if it were for friends or family, committed to leaving a positive mark everywhere we go.
Learn more at buildwithmarker.com.
About JobsOhio
JobsOhio is a private nonprofit economic development corporation designed to drive job creation and new capital investment in Ohio through business attraction, retention and expansion. The organization also works to seed talent production in its targeted industries and to attract talent to Ohio through Find Your Ohio. JobsOhio works with six regional partners across Ohio: Dayton Development Coalition, Ohio Southeast, One Columbus, REDI Cincinnati, Regional Growth Partnership and Team NEO. Learn more at www.jobsohio.com. Follow the company on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
About One Columbus
As the economic development organization for the 11-county Columbus Region, One Columbus’ mission is to lead a comprehensive regional growth strategy that develops and attracts the world’s most competitive companies, grows a highly adaptive workforce, prepares our communities for the future, and inspires corporate, academic and public innovation throughout the Columbus Region. One Columbus expertly guides companies through the location decision process. Through strategic business outreach and customized research, the One Columbus team leverages public, private and institutional partnerships to grow the Columbus Region’s economy and strengthen its national and international competitiveness. Funding is received from more than 300 private organizations, local governments, academic institutions and JobsOhio. Learn more at ColumbusRegion.com.
One Columbus Media Contact
Amy Harman
614-225-6070
ah@columbusregion.com
Marker Development Media Contact
Kirk Marker
614-844-9192
kmarker@buildwithmarker.com