The Journal first reported in February that Ball Metal Beverage Packaging, a supplier to the Trenton MillerCoors brewery, had signed a lease for space in Monroe to open a distribution facility. The lease is for 165,000-square-feet at Monroe Logistics Center, a two-building development on Logistics Way off Ohio 63.
The new warehouse and distribution center opening does not mean new jobs — it was a relocation from Trenton, according to the commercial real estate agent representing Ball Corp. in the lease deal.
Ohio Logistics of Findlay confirmed Wednesday it had been recently hired to run the Monroe warehouse.
The Journal asked Ball Corp. spokesman Scott McCarty to confirm the company has changed logistics providers and if the move to Monroe was related to the decision.
McCarty did not respond to those questions by email or phone in time for deadline Wednesday. Those specific follow up questions were asked earlier this week.
However, McCarty did say by email that the Monroe building is new and energy efficient, important to Ball Corp.’s sustainability efforts.
He also said the building “allows us to use longer trailers, which will reduce the total number of truck trips. It also offers us the flexibility to expand if our requirements change.”
Ball Corp. has manufacturing plants that make beverage cans in Findlay, Ohio, and food cans in Findlay and Columbus, McCarty said.
The company transports cans to Butler County, and a subcontractor for Ball Metal Beverage distributes them to the local beer brewery.
Monroe Logistics Center is a development by Industrial Developments International (IDI), a commercial real estate firm, of two buildings on approximately 86 acres. The first building is fully occupied by Hayneedle, an online home goods company, and a distribution center of Appleton Papers. IDI has finished construction of a second building of about 550,000-square-feet in the project, in which Ball Corp. is opening.
Ball Corp. is headquartered in Broomfield, Co.
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