Early this year, Stuart Seltman was wanted by many Midwest municipalities. The lifelong businessman of a new paper business aimed to replace single-use plastics such as lids, take-out containers, cutlery and straws, specifically in Canada and the United States of America.
Seltman, the fourth-generation president of Crescent Paper Tube, had a decision to make regarding his newest company. After rebranding his latest company as Matrix Pack North America, and partnering with two investors, his company was running out of room in their shared space with Crescent Paper Tube.
When Seltman began his second business venture, he was working in a section of the business park Seltman’s 104-year-old Crescent Paper Tube based in Florence. But the company quickly grew too big for the space. Soon, the flourishing paper company needed a new location.
“We had plenty of opportunities in the Midwest,” Seltman said, “Ohio — Dayton— was really pushing for us.”
Growing the region’s economy
BE NKY, a regional economic development group, approached Matrix Pack and worked out a deal with them to stay in Northern Kentucky.
The sustainable and environmentally-conscious paper products business announced a plan for a $47.9 million investment in Boone County, creating 144 jobs in July of 2023.
To meet growing demand in the market, the company plans to build a new 100,000-square-foot facility to expand the production of its products. Construction is expected to be completed by June 2024. Regional economic development businesses like BE NKY are constantly looking to keep or bring in big businesses to help the economy grow.
Bringing in new dollars to an area helps everyone in their economy.
“Everybody wins when a good site location decision is made,” said Lee Crume, president and chief executive officer of BE NKY.
Why does it matter?
Each business, and its employees, within an economy — city, county, region, country — trade dollars, but it’s hard to grow an economy when all the money stays in that bubble, Crume said.
“What we do, is we bring dollars into our economy,” the CEO and president said.
According to an op-ed in the Lane Report, which Crume wrote, Northern Kentucky’s real gross regional product grew 42.9% between 2011 and 2021, more than double the rate of growth for Louisville (19.6%) and nearly double the rate for Lexington (22.1%). The state of Kentucky grew by 12.6% during this decade.
In this report, he argued that NKY is a small but mighty Kentucky region that is boosting the commonwealth’s overall economy.
He said when a company shows up and announces it wants to invest money and hire a number of employees, “all the other businesses have new opportunities to grow the gross regional product of the community.”
Growing pains
Admittedly, growing has its challenges. As economies grow, pressure occurs on housing, traffic and more customers show up at the best restaurants, resulting in longer lines and housing shortages.
Crume called these growing pains, but said they were better than a city plateauing.
“What happens to regions that do not grow?” Crume questioned. “What happens to communities that don’t keep up with the lifestyle ammenties and quality of life that leading communities do? The short answer is they die. You’re either on the growth path or you’re on the dying path.”
Looking ahead
In 2021, BE NKY had a target industry study done, diving deeply into the strongest economic sectors in Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties to help the region find the top candidates to help the economy grow.
Advanced manufacturing, life sciences, information technology and supply chain management sectors are guiding the work BE NKY. Crume and his team are committed to bringing more companies in these sectors to the region.
“Through this research, we know these sectors are strong and are projected to grow over 2025. So this is where our efforts will be focused,” Cheryl Besl, marketing director at BE NKY said.
Inside that pool of businesses, Crume said he and his team will try and find the companies that are poised for growth, most likely to invest in the community and provide good jobs.
In 2021, the BE NKY team welcomed 22 new businesses offering an average of $68,000 per job, Besl said.
During the fourth quarter (October through December) of the fiscal year, BE NKY will look to continue development despite interest rates growing higher.
“That’s put an enormous amount of pressure on development,” Crume said. “You’re seeing development across the country slow.”
BE NKY and other regional economic development companies, keep economies churning. By keeping businesses like Matrix Pack or attracting businesses like Kroger, they are able to secure a stronger economy as more money circulates in and out of the region. For instance, when Kroger announced its expansion to Independence, it meant more than allowing local customers to access fresh food and Kroger delivery services, it meant more money entering the region.
BE NKY surpassed its targets set at the beginning of 2022, bringing to the region $292 million in capital investment and 2,356 new jobs.
These positions have an average wage of $66,375, above the median wage in the region. BE NKY exceeded the average wages or base compensation for the Cincinnati region, Northern Kentucky, and the state of Kentucky in 2022, according to BE NKY’s website.
“Our main focus for the back half and fourth quarter of the year is how can we help the client navigate that difficult decision-making process,” Crume said. “We don’t want to have a great year this year, and next year only be OK.”