ELSMERE, Ky. — Elsmere City Council has approved plans for Diversey – a South Carolina-based provider of cleaning and personal care products – to occupy an approximately 800,000-square-foot industrial building that is under construction on Foundation Drive and will employ an estimated 300 workers.
On Tuesday, Elsmere City Council approved an occupational tax incentive for Diversey that will run for a term of 10 years. In late 2020, City Council previously approved the issuance and sale of $45 million in Industrial Revenue Bonds (IRBs) for the Diversey project.
IRBs are a popular economic development tool used on many projects in Northern Kentucky. Under state law, the bonds are permitted to be issued by a local government to help finance major projects. The local government, however, is not responsible for paying off the bonds.
Diversey is expected to move into Core5’s industrial building in the first quarter of 2022. About half of the planned 300 employees will work in the office while the others will handle the development, production, and distribution of the company’s products. The company projects $60 million in payroll over the next 10 years.
Several other partners also helped make the Diversey project a reality and have been involved in setting the stage for future industrial development in the city:
- The Kentucky Economic Development Authority (KEDFA) has approved $3.1 million in incentives for Diversey.
- Kenton County Judge-executive Kris Knochelmann and the Kenton County Fiscal Court have supported the grant of incentives for the project.
- The city received grants from the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana (OKI) Council of Regional Governments for two major traffic improvement projects: The replacement and winding of the railroad bridge on New Buffington Road; and enhancements to the intersection of New Buffington Road, Industrial Road, Garvey Avenue, and Autumn Road.
- The Elsmere Fire Protection District Board of Directors has supported the project.
- SD1 installed a $5 million to $6 million sewer line to increase capacity in the area.
- Duke Energy performed a site-ready study for the area, which helped attract the project.
- Northern Kentucky Tri-Ed provided expert guidance on completing the transactions and coordinating communication between all stakeholders.
The City is also considering future plans for the development of four additional industrial buildings on farmland in the southern end of Elsmere near the existing Northern Kentucky Industrial Park by Core 5 Industrial Partners who is developing the project.
This additional investment of more than $86 million will create industrial space totaling more than 2 million square feet and eventually employ more than 1,000 workers in logistics and manufacturing.
The city has retained a traffic engineering firm to develop traffic flow solutions and to accommodate any traffic concerns from residents in the area. These discussions will take place in the future as the area continues to be studied.
