New Horizons capitalizing on recovery zone bonds

Huron County commissioners approved $6 million worth of recovery zone bonds for New Horizons Baking Company at their meeting Thursday.

"Our part as a board was when stimulus funds come to the county, they come through us for approval," Huron County Commissioner Mike Adelman said.

In March, New Horizons Acquisition Co. announced it would expand its facility and create 25 jobs in Norwalk. That marked the third expansion the company has announced in the past 12 months.

The Ohio Department of Development earlier this year reallocated up to $7.8 million in recovery zone facility bonds to Huron County projects, and New Horizons is using about $6 million of that.

Created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, recovery zone bonds are targeted to areas particularly affected by job loss and assist local governments in obtaining financing for much-needed economic development projects.

The New Horizons expansion will create at least 25 jobs in Norwalk over the next three years through a new muffin line, company officials said.

"It is the same 25 jobs announced before," said Alex Beres, county economic director, explaining the effect of the commissioners' action Thursday. "It's bond financing, not stimulus grants or county debt."

"There is a special provision for recovery zone bonds for each county in the United States," he added. "It's a good way to do a project, but it is not grant funds."

Beres said New Horizons will need to pay the "loan" back over a period of time.

The details are "not quite ironed out yet," he said. "The state wanted to make sure the counties were using the (funds) or allocating them back."

There are two types of recovery zone bonds, and only 25 percent of Ohio's 88 counties were able to use either type," Beres said.

Beres said working out this financing was a year in the making and included the efforts of himself, Norwalk economic development director Ellen Heinz and New Horizons officials.

Construction began about mid-May for Genesis Baking Company's first dedicated facility -- a 20,000 square-foot addition that will accommodate the new line, funded by an Ohio Enterprise Bond. Genesis is a division of New Horizons Acquisition Company and is housed in the same building as New Horizons Baking Company.

New Horizons Baking Company also was awarded $1 million through the Ohio Department of Development's Energy program to install new, efficient bake ovens that produce bread for fast food restaurants in seven states. The project will increase energy efficiency at the facility by 25 percent and help to retain 161 existing jobs.

The Ohio Department of Development and Ohio Rail Commission also awarded $220,000 for a $3.7 million rail spur project. The rail spur allows New Horizons to unload flour from rail cars instead of having to rely on trucks to cart in the flour from Cleveland.

New Horizons Baking Company produces hamburger buns and English muffins. In addition to the Norwalk location, there is one in Fremont, Ind.

The biggest benefit with this company's expansion projects is job retention and New Horizon's $2 million investment, Adelman said.

"It's a real positive project," he said. "It also lends to the stability that New Horizons has here in Huron County."