ONTARIO — A warehouse project in Ontario is moving forward after a brief delay.

Ontario Zoning Inspector Benji Hall said the project was temporarily paused from the original 2024 timeline.

Industrial Commercial Properties is building a 456,000-square-foot warehouse at 631 Stumbo road that it will lease to Charter Next Generation.

Recent updates show the city has completed paperwork approving the preliminary review application for the project.

“The city will now move forward with the next steps for the final site review,” Hall said.

According to Hall, Freeman Building Systems expects the warehouse to be ready for operation in the third or fourth quarter of 2026.

Once completed, the facility will store finished goods — blown film material on pallets — ready for shipment to customers. Wolf Creek Design and Engineering LLC will serve as the project’s architect.

Partnership build on local investment

The project is part of a larger redevelopment effort at the former General Motors property, led by ICP, which purchased the entire 2.5-million-square-foot site from the City of Ontario in 2024.

In a previous Richland Source article, ICP owner Christopher Semarjian said the building leased to CNG represents “just the next steps” in what he expects will become a major industrial hub in north central Ohio.

“We want to be team players and do the right thing,” Semarjian said during a Richland County Port Authority meeting. “We want you to look at the entire development and not just a one-off, $20 million project.”

Semarjian told Port Authority officials earlier this year ICP may eventually invest more than $20 million in the site, known as the Ontario Commerce Center.

In 2020, ICP entered into a development agreement with the City of Ontario for a portion of the former GM property and began redevelopment in 2021. Its first success came when CNG opened a specialty bag production operation the same year in about 130,000 square feet of space.

A collaboration backed by local support

The Ontario warehouse is part of a larger financing package coordinated through the county Port Authority, which approved $16 million in revenue bonds for the project in July.

The the deal provides $686,401 in sales tax savings on a total project estimated at nearly $20.7 million. In exchange, ICP will pay the Port Authority $171,600 in one-time fees and $5,000 annually while the lease bonds remain outstanding.

Richland County Commissioner Tony Vero said at the time the deal represents “a catalyst for significant future growth at the site.”

Port Authority board member DeLee Powell agreed, noting the partnership between the city, ICP and CNG reflects the kind of coordinated development the newly formed Port Authority was created to support.

“Since we are working with the Chamber and RCDG, they have properly vetted these projects,” Powell said in the earlier article. “So they’re already determining that it’s going to generate more income tax, more people employed there.”

CNG brings innovation and growth to Ontario

“We are very excited CNG is continuing to grow and build one of the largest warehouses in Richland County, specifically in Ontario,” Mayor Kris Knapp said.

Knapp highlighted the ongoing growth in Ontario, noting it brings jobs to the community and also revitalizes the General Motors property.

The property has been stagnant for several years, he noted.

“One of my personal goals was to get that revitalized, and now that we have electric back on that property, CNG and other industry businesses can help amplify that area for us,” Knapp added.

Local roots, long-term vision

Brandon Hall, vice president of CNG, said the project has special significance for many on the team who call Ontario home.

“The site has been an eyesore for a long time,” Hall said. “We want to build on it and make it better.”

He said the location made the most sense given its proximity to CNG’s existing plant.

“The plant is right next to it,” he said. “That helps us more than trucking inventory further away to places like Ashland or even Lexington. We’re proud to expand our footprint in Richland County with a new facility that enhances our capacities and supports long-term growth across the region.

“This investment brings new jobs, strengthens our supply chain and reinforces our commitment to innovation, operational excellence and the communities we call home.”

While warehouse projects typically create fewer new positions than production facilities, Hall noted the new warehouse will free up space at the existing Ontario plant — which currently has about 70,000 square feet of warehousing — for manufacturing expansion.

“Most of that warehousing can move to the new facility, giving the existing plant more room to add additional manufacturing lines,” he said. “That’s where a higher level of new jobs is created.”

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