It’s not exactly the same as rolling out the red carpet. But the city of Strongsville hopes to officially open the new, three-lane, approximately 2,000-linear-foot Foltz Parkway extension this fall. With the new access, the city is working with commercial real estate companies to find the right companies to call the 87.5 acres of open greenfield space their new home.
“Our goal is to maximize the economic potential of the land by bringing to market new, job-ready sites within a thriving business park.“ says Brent Painter, the city’s economic development director. “All the due diligence is completed, the property is zoned correctly, and the city is the sole owner of the land. The next steps are to sell parcels to good end-users and put shovels in the ground.”
The $4.2-million extension, ending in a cul-de-sac, is being handled by Fechko Excavating LLC in Medina and is off the south side of Ohio 62, west of Prospect Road. The project will also include waterlines, storm and sanitary sewers, a culvert to handle a creek under the road and a 10-foot-wide multipurpose path.
“By October the paving should be done, the road open and all the land available,” says Painter. “It’s really exciting. Not only are we opening a new greenfield industrial site that will create jobs and opportunities for our residents and revenue for our community and city, but we are improving the waterlines along Boston Road. We are adding better water services that will go into the Foltz Parkway and which also will benefit the residents and businesses around it.”
Painter calls the extension “the largest industrial greenfield site for sale in Cuyahoga County,” and believes the project is an indication of the city’s “dedication to its business partners.”
Strongsville has become an advanced manufacturing hub, according to Painter — embracing the integration of innovative technology and processes to improve the quality, productivity and efficiency of manufacturing. But economic development and success is also apparent in the city’s retail and residential areas.
In addition to the expansions and new businesses at SouthPark Mall, a variety of others have opened or will open shortly. Restaurants include First Watch, Original Pancake House, Shawarma Station and Potbelly Sandwich Shop. New retail in the community includes Boot Barn and Activate, a live-action, adventure game where participants jump, climb and solve problems in different rooms. It is the first of its kind in the Cleveland area and is suggested for players ages 6 to adult.
In terms of residential development, Camden Woods, 82 luxury townhouse units on Prospect and Royalton Roads, offers a resort-style clubhouse with a pool and fitness center as well as walking paths with access to Baker’s Creek.
A Global Reach
Here’s a look at some of the global companies and national businesses headquartered in Strongsville:
PLIDCO
Around the world, people in the oil and gas industries know what to say if a pipeline needs to be repaired: “Put a PLIDCO on it.”
“They refer to a clamp with our name. It’s like using the word ‘Kleenex’ for all tissue,” says Kim Smith, president of The Pipe Line Development Company (PLIDCO). “We were pioneers in the pipeline maintenance and repair industry. We are fortunate to have a branding everyone around the world in these industries knows.”
Smith’s grandparents founded the company in Cleveland in 1949, and she is the third generation to take the helm. Although the gas and oil industries are her main worldwide customers, PLIDCO also serves “any high pressure, high temperature pipeline,” for food and beverage companies.
PLIDCO is able to customize repair materials and has a healthy stock of fittings in Ohio and with worldwide distributors to ensure fast service.
“We are the emergency room to the pipeline industry,” says Smith, whose Strongsville operation boasts 118 employees. “We are also a development company. And we change with the technology. We have been able to improve our lead times because of our latest equipment. Also, we have about 5,000 square feet left in this building. I don’t know how fast we’ll pull the trigger on another expansion, but we will have the space to handle new technology.”
When that change comes, Smith says she will have the city’s support. In 2021, she moved PLIDCO to Strongsville from another West Side community because she didn’t feel the community was friendly to manufacturing businesses.
“Strongsville has been wonderful. I cannot sing their praises enough,” says Smith. “I was welcomed and supported right from the beginning and that continues today.”
(To learn more about the importance of pipelines throughout history, visit PLIDCO’s Pipeline Museum at the Strongsville location. No admission fee but call first; 440-871-5700.)
CCL Design Ohio
There’s a pretty good chance that those labels on parts of your vehicle or the labels on your consumer products such as printer ink cartridges were made in Strongsville.
“We are the largest label company in the world,” says George Khadige, business unit leader for CCL Design Ohio. “We do custom, tailor-made labels, not standard labels here, and we create solutions to problems. It might be something like creating a pressure sensitive label that can stand up to extreme temperatures.”
The global leader in specialty labels, printed electronics and functional materials creates products to serve the personal care, food and beverage, health care and automotive industries. Its parent company, CCL Industries, operates in 42 countries and purchased the former Avery manufacturing building on Foltz Parkway. Today, the campus setting includes not only the original “legacy building,” but newer facilities to accommodate the employees and “the millions and millions of dollars’ worth of machinery” that were transferred from another CCL facility in 2023.
“When we were looking to expand, we already had a presence in Strongsville. But we looked at every city. We considered the price of the land, its location and access,” says Khadige. “Strongsville is a very good place to do business. They ‘get it’ and are really pro-business. They knew we weren’t just a warehouse but would be bringing high-end jobs to the area.”
Khadige also points to the mutual benefit to the local community — employees have SouthPark Mall and other retail areas and restaurants for their convenience, and local businesses benefit from the workforce population.
“We have other sites in North America, but the Strongsville operation acts like our American design headquarters, with more executives and leadership here than any other facility,” says Khadige, noting the location’s 232 employees. “Also, a percentage of our workforce has purchased homes in Strongsville including folks who have relocated from other countries.”
The generous size of the campus also allows for future expansions if needed. One area with great potential for the company includes zinc-based battery technology. According to Khadige, the batteries are not flammable like lithium batteries and are capable of tracking data that includes temperatures in real time.
A second area of interest to CCL Design is medical patch technology. The company is currently working with pharmaceutical companies to create the technology to allow more medical drugs to be absorbed through the skin.
And while those two products may be a bit down the line, CCL Design continues to play the part of a good community partner. Recently, it purchased two ring-cutting tools that were donated to the city’s first responders. The tools can save someone from a finger amputation if a ring restricts blood flow to a swollen appendage.
Sealed with a Strongsville Stamp of Approval
There’s a good chance that something in your home, vehicle or workplace was made or tested in Strongsville.
For example:
HDI Landing Gear (Héroux-Devtek, Inc.) is a leading international manufacturer of aerospace products and the world’s third-largest landing gear manufacturer. The company focuses on finishing and assembly of landing gear in its Strongsville plant. HDI built the landing gear for the lunar module of the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969 and continues to make anyone who flies (and lands) safer.
All Foils converts aluminum, stainless steel, copper, carbon steel, nickel and other materials into printed pressure-sensitive adhesive foils, laminated foils and more. Established in 1980 and described as the “most experienced aluminum convertor in the United States,” All Foils’ products include candy wrappers, turkey and ham wrappers, insulation, containers and lids, batteries, blister packaging and more.
Vitamix is a 104-year-old, family-owned company that designs and develops blenders for commercial and home use. The company often gets credit for jump-starting the smoothie and frozen coffee craze in the 1990s. The Strongsville facility, which opened in 2012, concentrates on product assembly.
AkzoNobel’s $10 million Metal and Packing R & D Center opened in Strongsville in 2015. Specialized labs focused on innovative resin, packaging and coil coatings research join the company’s packaging coatings application center. Translation: eight of 10 times, that pop can you are drinking from has a food/drink safety liner applied in Strongsville.
Scranton Associates specializes in water treatment chemicals which it “manufactures, blends, combines, dilutes, neutralizes and repackages” for private labels. Established in 1919 in Cleveland, the fourth-generation business moved to Strongsville in 2008.
