State OKs area firms for loans, tax breaks

12/9/2008

A Toledo real estate investment trust has been approved for nearly $13 million in state loans and a start-up solar panel maker in Perrysburg was authorized for a $5 million state loan, the Ohio Department of Development said yesterday.

In addition, state panels yesterday voted in favor of low-interest loans or tax credits for three other northwest Ohio businesses or groups. All of the loans, acted upon by the Ohio Development Financing Advisory Council, are subject to approval by the Ohio Controlling Board.

Health Care REIT Inc., a real estate investment trust in downtown Toledo, was approved for $2 million and $10.75 million loans. The firm, which owns mostly health care and senior-living facilities nationwide, plans to use the money to acquire and renovate a health facility in Toledo. The $12.75 million project is supposed to create 45 jobs and retain 68.

The company also is to receive a 60 percent job-creation tax credit, valued at $510,000 over seven years, from the Ohio Tax Credit Authority.

Also, solar panel maker Willard & Kelsey Solar Group LLC, in the former Delafoil Inc. plant at 1775 Progress Dr. in Perrysburg, was approved for a $5 million loan for machinery and equipment. The $13.5 million project is to create 402 jobs and retain 10.

The company, one of several solar-panel makers or start-ups in the Toledo area, has received a state job tax credit and a local tax break.

In related action, the state approved a $750,000 loan to the Huron County Development Council to buy machinery and equipment for American Coating Specialists Inc., of Norwalk. The company makes coatings for manufacturing processes. The $1 million project is to retain 110 jobs.

For an $11 million project to create 263 jobs and retain 1,698 jobs, Whirlpool Corp. in Findlay was approved for a 50 percent tax credit valued at $907,000 over seven years. The company plans to expand its local plant and purchase machinery.

In Fulton County's York Township, Fulton County Processing Ltd., a steel coil processor, will get a 40 percent tax credit valued at $44,000 over five years to expand its plant in a $3.7 million project. It is to create 25 jobs and retain 47.