City Council Approves Incentive Grants For Two Local Businesses

Mentor City Council unanimously approved incentive grants for .

The first of the two businesses -- Metal Seal Precision -- is , a Mentor manufacturer, and relocating to 7333 Corporate Drive.

The manufacturers make a wide range of screw machine products for automobile, propane, firearm, power sports and several other industries.

"We had offers to go to Michigan and Indiana, but Ohio and, specifically Mentor, came forward with the best option," Arrow Machine Treasurer Rick Sippola said.

Ron Traub, Mentor's director of economic development, added that the state of Ohio was invaluable in keeping Arrow and attracting Metal Seal.

Ohio Rep. Ron Young helped securea a $5.1 million loan from the Ohio Department of Development that Arrow and Metal Seal will use to buy and renovate the property on Corporate Drive.

"It was critical that not just the city, but the state of Ohio, participate," Traub said.

Arrow Machine, which is housed for the moment on Tyler Boulevard, has 50 employees. Metal Seal has 85 employees who will all be moving to Mentor. Additionally Sippola previously said

Consequently, the company's payroll is expected to leap from $1.9 million in 2012 to $6.9 million in 2013.

If the company maintains that payroll from 2013 to 2021, it will create more than $1 million in income tax revenue for the city during the next decade, according to the approved legislation.

According to the grant, the combined Metal Seal and Arrow Machine would be entitled to keep $500,000 of that money over the next 10 years.

The other business that will receive an incentive grant from Mentor is , a private practice cardiology office that plans to buy and occupy the former Carpet Liquidators building at 7200 Mentor Ave.

The doctor's offices will be near a podiatry office that also replaced a retail business, Mentor City Manager Kenneth Filipiak noted.

"This is an area that's becoming a hotspot in Mentor for specialty medical care," Filipiak said.

David Carlozzi, a spokesman for Cardiovascular Consultants, said he is a former Mentor resident who used to work for a business that left the city and subsequently closed.

"The opportunity to bring something back to Mentor is very fulfilling," Carlozzi said. "It's a little spiritual."

Cardiovascular Consultants will bring its 36 employees to Mentor and a payroll of $2.3 million. During the next two years, it intends to hire four more people, which will bump their payroll to $2.5 million.

The business is expected to produce $341,000 in new income tax revenue during the next seven years. IIf the business maintains a minimum payroll of $2.3 million, it is entitled to keep $102,300 of that money as an incentive grant over the next seven years.