OuterBox Solutions Inc. — the kind of growing tech company that local officials want to keep in downtown Akron — is moving to the suburbs.
The state is helping with the relocation to Copley, west of Akron, granting OuterBox a state of Ohio Job Creation Tax Credit.
“We tried to make it work, but there wasn’t anything out there” downtown that met the growing company’s current and projected space and parking needs, and also was within budget, Nick Nolan, partner and chief operating officer, said of the 15-year-old company that started and has remained in the Kaiser Building downtown.
The building at 325 S. Main St. is across from Canal Park Stadium, near the intersection of Exchange and Main streets.
The web design and development company — which is on the building’s third and second floors — specializes in building e-commerce websites for enterprises nationwide.
Many of them are businesses that deal with other businesses, such as an auto parts manufacturer that sells products online to auto manufacturers.
OuterBox probably looked at 10 buildings downtown, Nolan said, noting the leased space in Copley suits all the expanding company’s needs.
This week, the Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved a Job Creation Tax Credit for OuterBox’s expansion project.
Nolan didn’t want to say where in Copley the company will land; negotiations with the property owner aren’t yet wrapped up. He said the company likely will move by early next year.
The credit on payroll taxes would amount to an estimated $235,000 and be paid over seven years — if the company creates 50 new full-time jobs by the end of 2022. The additional jobs would generate $2.75 million in new annual payroll; the average yearly salary of the new jobs would be $55,000.
A state document about the project says OuterBox has a payroll of $1.925 million. Nolan said that when this information was supplied to the state, OuterBox had some 30 full-time employees. It now has 43.
Sam DeShazior, Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan’s chief economic development officer, who helped to try to keep OuterBox in downtown Akron, said Tuesday that officials with the city worked together to make sure OuterBox stayed in the Greater Akron area. He noted the company will be in a Copley JEDD (joint economic development district) — an area in which Akron collects income taxes and shares them with the township. Other communities in Summit County have JEDDs.
DeShazior said while “we don’t lose them from the area,” city officials “certainly really wanted to have that vitality in downtown,” that companies such as OuterBox bring, he said.
OuterBox employees focus on search-engine optimization — using techniques to get websites to rank high in search results.
Just last year, OuterBox expanded from the third floor to the second floor of the Kaiser Building, owned by Tony Troppe and investors. Troppe has renovated several historic buildings downtown.
The building was completed in 1877, and formerly housed a German-American Family Club and had a grand ballroom on the third floor with 18-foot-high ceilings. Today on its ground floor, it houses Pots & Pans Jamaican Cuisine and Karma Kafe.
Nolan said the ongoing road construction in downtown Akron wasn’t the reason for the move, although he said, “It’s a little inconvenient to be honest.”
Last month, accounting firm Ernst & Young said it is moving its Akron office to 1200 E. Market St. in the East End mixed-use redevelopment at the former Goodyear & Tire Rubber Co. campus.
The space at East End is expected to be ready for Ernst & Young by August 2020.
Reach Katie Byard at 330-996-3781 or [email protected].