ONDA USA LLC will move from Columbus to a building at 600 London Road in Delaware, creating 50 jobs within five years.
Delaware City Council has approved a $30,000 economic incentive grant agreement with the company for fiber optics and electrical upgrades required to use the building for manufacturing and distributing industrial heat exchangers.
“We kept growing over the years and want to put roots down,” Alberto Bodignon, general manager for ONDA USA, told council on Monday. “We’re finally ready to manufacture in Ohio. We have a good product and a strong, family-owned company.”
ONDA, which is the Italian word for “wave,” has customers such as Carrier, Liebert, York, the Canadian navy and the U.S. Coast Guard, Bodignon said. The company was founded in 1992 in Italy, and its U.S. operations were previously at 690 Hadley Drive in Columbus.
Bodignon said ONDA recently purchased the London Road property because of its potential for expansion. He said manufacturing could begin this summer. However, the incentives application said the project could begin in November and be completed three years later.
Sean Hughes, the city’s economic development director, said ONDA has a total investment of $2,860,000 in the building, which will include machinery and equipment. In its incentives application, ONDA said there will be 10 full-time employees with a $400,000 payroll for the first year; 25 employees within three years at a $1 million payroll; and 50 employees at a $2 million payroll in five years.
“In two years, the city would generate $37,000 in income taxes, allowing for an 80 percent return on investment in two years,” stated a city fact sheet prepared for council.
Council unanimously approved the ordinance by a 7-0 vote.
Another ordinance, for a Community Reinvestment Area agreement and school compensation agreement with Midwest Acoust-A-Fiber and Metal Stars II LLC; Delaware City Schools; and the Delaware Area Career Center was tabled indefinitely.
Also at the meeting, council approved:
• Funding to execute economic development grant pass-through payments for building Innovation Court. Hughes said the already-built road will soon attract other companies.
• The final development plan for Section 7 of the Communities at Glenross.
• Additional funds for updated traffic modeling for a transportation study by the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission’s transportation group. The study includes regional growth and traffic projections through 2040.
