In Columbus, Kubota Tractor Corp. acquired 25 acres (10 hectares) from Duke Realty in the Groveport Commerce Center, where the company then built a 290,000-sq.-ft. (26,941-sq.-m.) bulk warehouse/distribution facility.
      "We were looking for a high-quality site with visibility that was ready to be developed in accordance with our company's record growth," said Ted Pederson, senior director and division manager for Kubota, which moved into the facility around the first of the year.
      The Village of Groveport offers a 15-year, 100 percent real property tax abatement. Also, Kubota's facility falls within the recently expanded Rickenbacker Free Trade Zone.
      Groveport Commerce Center is a 382-acre (155-hectare), 4 million-sq.-ft. (371,600-sq.-m.) master-planned industrial park near Rickenbacker International Airport, the busiest U.S. airport dedicated to moving air cargo.
      The airport is about to get even busier. Norfolk Southern Railroad is teaming with the Columbus Regional Airport Authority to build a new 300-acre (122-hectare) intermodal facility at Rickenbacker to handle the rapid increase in demand for lower-cost shipping.
      According to an independent study, a new intermodal facility could help create 9,500 jobs and another 10,900 indirect jobs in the next 30 years. The facility is estimated to generate $800 million in local, state and school district tax revenues during that period.
      Construction and machinery investments could total more than $2.5 billion.
      Numbers like that inspire Gov. Taft and Lt. Gov. Johnson to keep pushing for an overhauled tax code.
      "No one is debating our need to reduce the tax on manufacturing equipment," Johnson says. "When this reform package becomes law, there is very strong evidence that there will be a lot of new spending."