Diebold Inc. said Thursday it wants to build its $100 million global headquarters in Green.
The $2.8 billion global maker of ATMs and security systems said it has signed a purchase agreement for 55 acres on what is called Union Square near Massillon Road and Town Park Boulevard and fronting along Interstate 77.
Construction, pending the land passing environmental standards and the company getting other approvals, is expected to start in 2013. That’s about a year later than executives had initially announced.
The 200-acre Union Square business park, north of Akron-Canton Airport, is near Akron General Medical Center’s $32 million wellness center and emergency room. Raintree golf course lies on the other side of I-77 from Diebold’s proposed headquarters location. DeHoff Development Co. of North Canton is the developer.
The 500,000-square-foot headquarters is still being designed and will take two to three years to build once ground breaks, Diebold said. About 1,500 out of Diebold’s 2,000 employees in Ohio are expected to work at the headquarters, with the others at different company sites.
If the Union Square land fails inspections, the company said it will look at other sites. One of the land issues involves nearby wetlands that could be impacted by construction, a Diebold spokesman said.
Selecting a location
Thursday’s announcement ends months of waiting on where Diebold would locate. The company had been wooed by other states, including North Carolina and Virginia, before announcing last year it would stay in Ohio.
“Our preferred site in Green provides us with the characteristics we coveted in a location, as well as continuity and convenience for our associates and a first-class presentation for our customers,” Thomas W. Swidarski, Diebold president and chief executive officer, said in a prepared statement.
“The initial plans for our new global headquarters campus will allow us to further align our organization, enhance our ability to recruit and retain top-tier talent, and help build a stronger community, all while helping transform Diebold into the true services business we aspire to become,” Swidarski said.
Canton and Stark County officials aggressively tried to lure Diebold to another site, Swidarski said.
“About 70 percent of our local associates live in Stark County, and we take our 140-year presence in the Canton area very seriously,” he said.
But Diebold executives decided the company’s needs would best be met by the Green location. Diebold’s current Mayfair Road headquarters, which sits on the Summit and Stark County line, is a short drive from the Union Square site.
“We’re thrilled for them,” said Rob Nichols, spokesman for Gov. John Kasich. “It’s a great day for Ohio. It’s a great day for Northeast Ohio. Green sounds a whole lot better than North Carolina.”
Diebold said it also holds the right of first refusal on another 36 acres of land next to the 55-acre parcel it intends to build on. The additional acres will allow Diebold to expand or put up other buildings.
Green Mayor Dick Norton said he is “obviously thrilled” with Diebold’s announcement. He also said it likely will take the rest of the year to work out public financing details and related legislation and agreements before ground can be broken.
“We’ve worked tirelessly for the past 18 months, some months before and especially in the last year,” Norton said. “When you can retain them and be part of their one-half-million-square-foot world headquarters, that’s pretty significant.”
The announcement means the city will keep a significant number of jobs that are already here. Norton said the headquarters will add another 120 jobs.
The public partners in the project — Ohio, Green, Summit County and the Summit County Port Authority — put together the pieces and parts of the complex transaction, Norton said.
Norton said he couldn’t speak about the incentives offered to the company to stay in the area, citing the number of different entities that still have not been apprised of the agreement details. He said the financial commitments and overtures behind the incentives began under the previous Gov. Ted Strickland’s administration and picked up speed after Kasich took office.
“I’m not comfortable disclosing the exact details just yet in deference and consideration to those who are involved, including Green council and Green local schools, [that] have not seen it yet,” Norton said.
He said the site falls into the vision the city has for Green’s Massillon Road corridor.
Diebold will own the headquarters and property once the project is completed.
State incentives
Last April 12, Diebold executives and Kasich formally announced that Diebold would build a new headquarters in the region.
A location was not disclosed at that time. Diebold said it was going to put up a $100 million “showcase” global headquarters. That figure included a $56 million state incentives package. Local incentives were to push the financing package to $100 million, or the cost of the project.
Diebold has been in Ohio for 152 years.
Ohio said it committed $30 million in tax credits, $20 million in loans and $6 million in grants on the project, according to Diebold. Adding incentives from local authorities pushes the package total to about $100 million, which is what Diebold says the entire project will cost.
What helped in Ohio’s negotiations with Diebold was a bill passed in 2011 by the Ohio legislature that created what is called a refundable job retention tax credit, Kasich said. The bill included a provision to retain greeting card maker American Greetings in the Cleveland area and a provision for an incentive package for Diebold.
Diebold pays nearly $400,000 a year in property taxes on two facilities in Green and an additional $2.5 million is generated in income taxes for Green. It also pays taxes on multiple properties in Stark County. Diebold’s current headquarters is in Stark’s Jackson school district. School district boundaries are often different from municipalities.
Beacon Journal reporter Kathy Antoniotti contributed to this story. Antoniotti can be reached at 330-996-3565 or kantoniotti@thebeaconjournal.com. Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com.
