Rural King II

New Markets Tax Credit Financing Enables Rural Retailer to Expand Operations at Waverly Distribution Center

New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) financing has enabled family-owned retailer Rural King to acquire certain equipment, machinery, racking, conveyors, and other items to be installed and utilized in its 1,000,000 square foot warehouse facility in Waverly, Ohio. This facility serves as a centralized import center and assembly site for an expanding product line to be shipped nationwide, and the new equipment and machinery will enable Rural King to increase access to much-needed commercial goods and services for approximately 1.5 million customers annually in rural communities in the Midwest and Southeast. The project will create 50 new full-time direct jobs.

Rural King has previously undertaken two significant ventures in Pike County, resulting in the creation of 2,000,000 square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space. Cumulatively, these previous investments as well as the new distribution center will result in the creation of over 700 full-time direct and indirect jobs.

Finance Fund provided $5,000,000 of federal NMTC allocation to the project. The project has also received grants, tax incentives, and reduced land costs including $1,500,000 from the State of Ohio and $4,000,000 from the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative.

The distribution center is located in a non-metropolitan area that experiences a poverty rate of 22.9%, a median family income equal to 65% of the applicable area median family income, and an unemployment rate of 13.9%, which is 1.67 times the national rate. Pike County is also classified by the Appalachian Regional Commission as being at risk of becoming economically distressed, economically ranking in the worst performing 10% of
the nation’s counties.

Rural King is committed to working with local organizations such as the Community Action Committee of Pike County to recruit and train local unemployed and underemployed residents. Nearly half of the positions being created due to this expansion will be for Commercial Driver’s License certified professional truck drivers. Rural King will partner with Community Action Committee and Southern State Community College to train drivers for work with Rural King and other Pike County businesses.

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