12 Days of Christmas Savings

Cooperative Living

1. Deck the halls with LED holiday lights. Use energy-saving LED lights to decorate your home.
2. Use a timer to turn off holiday lights at night when you’re sleeping. This simple step not only saves energy but also helps extend the life of your lights during the holiday season.
3. Lower the thermostat when guests arrive. Having friends and family over? The additional people in your house will create more warmth, so go ahead and lower the thermostat a few degrees before guests arrive.
4. Close the fireplace damper when a fire is not actively burning. Keep cold outside air where it belongs and keep more money in your pocket.
5. Ask Santa for a smart or programmable thermostat to save energy. Treat yourself to a thermostat that helps you save energy and stay comfortable all year long!
6. Heading out of town? Unplug appliances and electronics. These energy vampires consume energy even when they are not in use.
7. Gifting new electronics, gadgets, or appliances? Look for the Energy Star label, which indicates higher energy efficiency performance.
8. Keep the winter chill outdoors by sealing air leaks around your home. Use weatherstripping and caulk to seal leaks around the house. Your cold-natured family members (and energy bills) will thank you!
9. Open blinds and curtains during the day. Let the sunshine in! Natural sunlight can add plenty of warmth to your home on cold days.
10. Consider rechargeable batteries and chargers. They make great stocking stuffers! They are environmentally friendly and great last-minute stocking stuffers.
11. Use the oven light to check the progress of your dish. Don’t open the oven door and let the heat out. Use the oven light instead.
12. When your holiday tree is lit, turn off lamps and enjoy the cozy glow. Save energy and create a magical holiday atmosphere.

Developer lands incentive for $20.3M Industrial project in Marysville

A $20.3 million speculative industrial building has been approved for a tax incentive by the city of Marysville.

Indianapolis-based Opus Development Co., part of the Opus Group family of companies, plans to build a 253,000-square-foot facility on an 18-acre parcel along Innovation Way. The Community Improvement Corp. of Union County, acting as an authorized agent of the city, will transfer the undeveloped property to Opus.



Marysville City Council approved a community reinvestment area agreement with Opus at a recent meeting. The developer will receive a 10-year, 75% property tax exemption on the assessed value of the new facility. The agreement states that if the project does not create at least 80 full-time jobs with annual payroll of $4.5 million, the tax exemption will be reduced.

Council added an emergency clause to the legislation so that Opus could start construction prior to the winter season. The developer originally intended to begin construction in spring 2025 and for the project to be completed in December 2026.

The building will be marketed for manufacturing, light assembly, technology and distribution use. It could be developed for a single tenant or be divided for multiple end users.



The spec project comes amid a recent slowdown in the Central Ohio industrial market. Industrial vacancy remained elevated in the third quarter, with rates up more than 2.6% year-over-year. A CBRE report noted that there was a rise in spec construction completions, which raised the total market vacancy by 60 basis points and modern bulk vacancy by 160 basis points. A total of 2 million square feet of spec space was completed in Q3, according to the report.

The Silos @ Water & Light

City Councill approved The Silos @ Water & Light project at the December 2nd Marysville City Council meeting. The project consists of:

• Total Investment of $110M
• Redevelopment of 17 acres of blighted brownfield vacant land in a floodplain
• Preservation of the original water plant and multiple silos
• 220 + Multi-family Units
• 26K Square feet of food, beverage, and event space
• 15K square feet of co-working space
• 25K square feet of hospitality (boutique hotel and/or corporate housing)
• Extension of Jim Simmons Trail to connect North Main Street and Maple Street
• In collaboration with the Union County Engineer's Department, the historic Streng Road truss bridge will be relocated to become the pedestrian bridge across Mill Creek
• Improved Main Street streetscape to match the Uptown area

Ohio-made Honda CR-V on pace for record 2024 sales

It could be a record year for at least one Honda vehicle.

The East Liberty-built CR-V sold 34,398 units in November, which was up 9.5% compared with November 2023 and keeps it on pace for a record year.

The company has sold 363,388 CR-Vs so far in 2024. Roughly half – and 54% in November – are of the hybrid model.

The CR-V was introduced in 1997 and has been Honda's best-selling vehicle every year since 2017. More than 6 million CR-Vs have been sold since its debut. Its best year was 2019 with 384,168 units sold.

Honda, which bases many North American operations in Marysville, Tuesday announced its November results. Total sales rose 14.5% in the month to 121,419 vehicles. That includes a 15.9% increase with the Honda brand to 110,020 cars and light trucks, and a 2.6% increase to 11,399 vehicles for the luxury Acura brand.

The light truck segment, which is predominately sport-utility vehicles in Honda’s case, was up 23.8% in the month while total car sales dropped 5%.

The Marysville-built Honda Accord fell 16.2% in November to 11,671 units. For much of Honda’s history that was the manufacturer’s top-selling vehicle. Last month it was the fifth-best seller trailing CR-V (up 9.5% to 34,398), Civic (up 9.1% to 18,367), Pilot (up 38.8% to 12,652) and HR-V (up 18.3% to 12,594)

That was a record November for the HR-V. Honda also noted that the Pilot SUV and Odyssey minivan are the top sellers in their respective vehicle segments.

November was a record month for Honda’s electrified models as well with the hybrid versions of the CR-V and Accord plus the electric Prologue combining to top 38,000 vehicles.

Honda said demand was strong in the face of supply issues. Both the Marysville and East Liberty auto plants are going through retooling and renovations to prepare for EV production in late 2025.

The Acura RDX, which is built in East Liberty, was up 11.9% in November to 3,386 vehicles. The MDX, also assembled in East Liberty, was up 6.2% and set a November record with 4,328 vehicles sold.

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The McCulloch Building, located at 124-134 Emmaus Road in Marysville, has signed its first commercial tenants.

The developer of a newly completed Marysville building has signed its first commercial tenants.

The McCulloch Building, built by Connolly Cos. and located at 124-134 Emmaus Road in Marysville's Green Pastures neighborhood, will be occupied by Winans Coffee & Chocolates, Martinizing Cleaners and M.L. Ranney Law LLC. Winans is set to open in February 2025 and the other two tenants also are expected to move in early in the year.

The largest tenant will be Winans, which is occupying roughly 1,500 square feet on the ground floor. Martinizing will take about 1,300 square feet and M.L. Law will have approximately 1,000 square feet.

Connolly Cos. President John Connolly and his wife, Pam, will run the Winans coffee shop. When it opens, it will be the first Marysville location for the Piqua-based chocolatier and coffee roaster franchise.

“Winans is a hometown chocolate shop that will fit Marysville perfectly," Winans CEO Wilson Reiser said. "It is a truly special brand, and we are confident that locals and visitors alike will enjoy the experience."

Connolly said he and his wife spent time trying to find the right franchisee, but ultimately decided to run it themselves.

"We came to the conclusion that, to ensure it was high quality and was there for a long time, we wanted to do it ourselves," John Connolly said. "We think it's a great thing for the community to have."

The 16,000-square-foot building also has space for two additional tenants. Connolly said no letters of intent have been signed for those spaces, but discussions with potential tenants are ongoing. End users could include a salon and a chiropractor, he said.

"We're being selective in who we choose to sign," he said.

The building also includes 11 one-bedroom apartments on the second floor. Connolly said a few people are living in the building, but units are still available.

Overall, Connolly said he believes the McCulloch Building is a welcome addition to the Marysville community.

"We built this building to enhance the neighborhood and the community as a whole," he said. "Time will tell how successful we are, but we're optimistic that we'll achieve that goal."

One Columbus...Partnership is important!

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Businesses in the 11-county Columbus Region benefit from a robust economic development infrastructure. One Columbus, the economic development organization for the Region, works with both state and local partners to help new and existing businesses grow in the Columbus Region.

$10B

CAPITAL INVESTMENT SECURED

$2B

NEW PAYROLL ACROSS THE REGION

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Receive a $5 Uber discount for Marysville, Richwood and surrounding areas.

For more details, scan the QR code below or visit

www.growunioncountyohio.org/ride.

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