FINDLAY, Ohio — It's been officially a decade of dominance for the Flag City.
Site Selection Magazine, the official publication of the Global Foreign Direct Investment Association, has ranked Findlay as the top micropolitan community in the nation for economic development.
Dan Sheaffer, executive director of the Findlay-Hancock County Economic Development, said in 2023, Findlay and Hancock County saw $254 million in industrial investments, leading to 1,068 new employees hired.
"Knowing our companies, we visit with our CEOs and plant managers of our companies, have a relationship with them. They know us and we know them," Sheaffer said.
“Findlay is literally playing out of its league. Its capital investments for 2023 would have earned it Site Selection’s number one ranking among tier 3 metros, the next class up, and that’s amazing,” said Gary Daughters, senior editor of Site Selection Magazine.
Each year only accounts for the previous calendar year of investments, so Findlay has started from square one each year.
Findlay Mayor Christina Muryn said a decade of consistent success should show investors that Findlay is ready and able to work with them.
"Really showing them our record of how businesses that have chosen to be in Findlay continue to be successful, see investment and growth," Muryn said.
"So with Site Selection, you do go from hero to zero at the beginning of the new year, but that being said, we work on our retention with our companies expansion, capital investment with our existing companies," Sheaffer said. "99% of all the capital investments and new jobs come from existing companies and we're here to help."
Sheaffer said the majority of the success has come from retaining existing businesses and helping them to expand.
With future infrastructure investments coming to the north side of town on County Road 99, he expects 2024 to be equally successful.
"It's really an industrial corridor that they're attaching to out there. And yes, it will indeed not accelerate growth, but make ready for new growth," Sheaffer said.
Though the date has not been set yet, Findlay and Hancock County will be inviting stakeholders from state economic development agencies, and from the other top 10 micropolitan finishers to town for a special meeting later this month.