Business View Magazine | February 2020

133 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2020 ASHLAND , OHIO “Now, the neat thing about that is, once that project is complete, not only will it serve as sort of a community arts center for the performing and visual arts, but it will also be able to premier some of the films that are produced by the local film company’s production studio. So, we think that, not only will it generate more economic activity downtown, it will also serve as a new venue for various cultural activities related to the arts. So that’s the theater.” BVM: She also talked about another new addition to the community, Central Ohio Medical Textiles, or COMTEX, which is constructing a $20-million facility that will bring 75 jobs in the first three years and 100 by year five. Any progress there? Miller: “COMTEX is a state-of-the-art medical laundry facility that chose to be in Ashland, so they could be close to the northeast and central Ohio healthcare systems markets. They did open and they are now up and running and, at this point, have 55 employees, and things are going very well. We’re so pleased that they chose to locate here and, certainly, they are in an industry that is not going away. There are more and more hospitals and healthcare facilities springing up all across our state and nation and there will always be a market for the work they do at COMTEX. So, we believe that place will grow.” BVM: She also mentioned the Ashland Business Park. Miller: “We’ve had a number of company expansions in our industrial park. One is Ohio Electric Controls; they are expanding their facility to accommodate additional contracts they have received to produce electric panels, and we also have Lippert Enterprises, which is also looking to purchase additional land at the industrial park, as well as expand their facility, there.” BVM: Finally, Kathy talked about the