CASE STUDIES
We’ve been fortunate enough to work with clients in a range of industries, delivering growth strategy consulting, helping them to define their community investment strategies and build organizations that are the obvious choice in the hearts and minds of their customers, employees and the community. Below is an example of one of our successful projects.
ECONOMIC REVITALIZATION FOR FORMER JEEP SITE TOLEDO
THE CHALLENGE
As the largest available contiguous vacant land within Toledo, the former Jeep site was a redevelopment priority for local stakeholders. The former Jeep plant is a 110-acre site purchased by the Toledo Port Authority in September 2010. The Port Authority was focused on the cleanup and preparation of the property for redevelopment. It also recognized that the surrounding neighborhood needed to be part of the redevelopment strategy. The long- term vision for the former Jeep site is to transform the vacant industrial property into a job source with new business opportunities, and serve as a model for renewable energy and sustainable design. The site presents Toledo with an opportunity to improve economic development, as well as provide services and amenities for the local neighborhood residents.
THE SOLUTION
Regionerate worked with the Toledo Community Foundation to support and accelerate civic engagement and public/private collaborations. At our first regional forum on October 7, 2010, we wove the latest thinking and practices in economic development, linking and leveraging networks of people and other assets, throughout our plan. We embarked on this path using Strategic Doing. Strategic Doing is a discipline that guides open innovation. The goal of this strategy process is to identify joint investment initiatives that are replicable, scalable and sustainable.
In March 2011, several federal partners were invited to a regional forum focused on the remediation and redevelopment of the Jeep Plant. The Jeep District Site offers many unique features that will promote cluster development and spur neighborhood revitalization, including:
- The specific location, with its proximity to roads, rail, and port, makes it an ideal setting for a Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics Hub.
- It builds on the existing cluster of competency in the region—Designers, Architects, and Engineers who are working together to provide input on redevelopment.
- The Site offers an innovation zone for manufacturing with the opportunity to reconstruct buildings that meet criteria of industry for advanced facilities.
- The Site has potential as an industrial hub for Solar Energy, Bio-Life Sciences, and Bio Fuels.
By engaging the community in synergy summits and working closely with co-investors, we have demonstrated leadership in the coordination of such recovery strategies. These strategies have focused on job creation, economic growth, land use, physical infrastructure, and human services.