An important part of any commercial real estate transaction and land development process is finding incentives and grants from local and state governments. After all, commerce and industry are good for the economic health of local communities. Mason’s current businesses are growing, and the city needed grants to keep facilitating this growth. New access roads will allow Empire Foods to expand their business by constructing a meat processing plant in Lakewood Commerce Park. These road extensions will also create 11 acres of new commercial land space zoned for industrial development, allowing more businesses looking to expand to join Empire Foods in growing Mason’s economy and jobs market.

Check out an article from the Enquirer below for details on the grant:

The city of Mason has received $200,000 in state grants to extend a road to Empire Foods’ planned new meat processing plant in Lakewood Commerce Park off Mason-Montgomery Road.

The project is expected to create 200 jobs within the plant’s first three years of operation, generating $5 million in annual payroll, city officials said.

Empire Foods purchased 21 acres of land in November to build the $7 million, 90,000-square-foot manufacturing and packing plant. Construction is expected to be finished by the end of next year.

The extension of Alliance Drive also will open up 11 acres available for light industrial development.

The two state grants will cover 50 percent of the road construction’s cost, with the additional amount funded through the city and developer Henkle Schueler, City Manager Eric Hansen said.

Work already is under way on the roadway extension and is expected to be completed by early summer, Hansen said.

Received from the state: A $150,000 Ohio Department of Development 629 grant and an additional $50,000 through the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Office of Jobs and Commerce.

This article was written by Rachel Richardson, an Enquirer Contributor, published on Feb 28, 2013.