MOUNT VERNON – By far, the largest property owned by the Knox County Land Bank is the former Siemens factory, a complex that encompasses 670,000 square feet of space in 25 buildings on 47 acres.
It’s likely too big of a property for just one company, according to Sam Filkins, vice president of the Area Development Foundation (ADF) of Knox County. The ADF is contracted to provide staffing for the Land Bank.
“We probably wouldn’t be able to find one buyer to take over the 670,000 square feet,” Filkins told the Mount Vernon News. “That’s just not what people are doing. But also, we’ve seen that multi-tenants, multi-user space spreads out the risk, so if someone leaves — like has happened in the past — it doesn’t take all the jobs.”
Siemens closed the plant in 2018 as part of a global cost-cutting move.
The property has been rebranded Cooper Progress Park.
“The marketing went out over the winter full-scale,” Filkins said. “We have seen a real uptick in visitors and interest in all the buildings on the campus. Some of them are from local companies or organizations, and some are from places that would be relocating here or expanding here.”
Planners are envisioning the property as four key plants in buildings that were previously used for heavy manufacturing.
“The buildings were built for manufacturing and should be used for that,” Filkins said. “That is our first hope — to bring manufacturing jobs in for that.”
The office-space areas will provide different opportunities, he said.
“We probably won’t have a manufacturer who needs office space for 700 people,” Filkins said.
Filkins, former director of Student Engagement at Kenyon College, is new to the Land Bank, having started last summer in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Moving into economic development during one of the more challenging economic times in my life was an interesting career shift,” he said. “When we came in, we were mostly in triage mode trying to find out how to help our local businesses. In some ways, I was brought up to speed very quickly and was able to jump in. We needed all hands on deck.”
A separate entity — the Cooper Park Development Company — has been created to handle marketing of the former Siemens property, which will free up time for the Land Bank to focus on other projects, Filkins said.
One of those projects is residential housing.
“I think 2021 is going to be a heavy residential focus for the Land Bank,” he said. The organization recently purchased a house on East Ohio Street in Mount Vernon.
“We’re already trying to find someone who is interested in purchasing that house and fixing it up and turning it back into a gem that it was,” Filkins said.
