LORAIN — A complex three-way deal might keep a Lorain manufacturing plant and its 285 jobs in the city.Lorain is working with Industrial Realty Group and Emerson Network Power to redevelop 330,000 square feet of commercial space on the city’s east side to keep Emerson and the $340,000 its employees pay annually in income tax in the city.

“This is a perfect example of job retention,” Lorain Service Director Robert Gilchrist said. “The city’s been working with IRG and Emerson for the last few months. Everybody wins.”

Emerson, a global provider of components for the communication industry, had been looking to consolidate its services and realized its current local facilities wouldn’t work, Lorain Mayor Tony Krasienko said.

So the city set out to find the space Emerson needed, and it put Emerson in touch with IRG, a company whose presence in Northeast Ohio is growing in part because of plans to transform the quarries in South Amherst into a $500 million housing development and its $2.5 million purchase and redevelopment of Ford Motor Co.’s defunct Lorain Assembly Plant.

Emerson looked at what IRG had to offer and realized the former Ford facility wouldn’t work, Krasienko said. But when IRG looked at what Emerson had to offer, a new proposal hit the table, the mayor said.

IRG will remake the Emerson property into a workable space for Emerson with the city’s help. The agreement still needs City Council’s approval, and it is scheduled for a vote Monday.

“It was a nice mixture of a lot of people working to make this happen,” Krasienko said. “It took a lot of chefs to make this stew.”

While the investment won’t create any additional jobs right away, Krasienko said, it could pave the way for more in the future.

The city also will provide about $600,000 in forgivable loans, an amount Krasienko said was well worth having the company stick around.

“If they were to have left town, it would’ve been a huge loss,” he said.

IRG President Stuart Lichter wouldn’t comment on the deal, citing ongoing discussions.

A spokesperson for Emerson confirmed that the company was working with the city and IRG but said no decisions have been made.

Contact Stephen Szucs at 329-7129 or sszucs@chroniclet.com.

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