Marion: Small Town Benefits Close to Columbus

When the U.S. government needed a Midwestern site for storing strategic materiel during WWII, it chose Marion, 40 miles north of Columbus, because of the excellent rail service and the ease of moving war goods to overseas shipping points.

In 1990, with the Cold War winding down, the U.S. General Services Administration no longer needed the mammoth warehouse that, among other features, included eight miles of railroad track.

Enter Ted Graham, Marion entrepreneur. To others, the 1.4 million square feet of aging structure probably seemed like a white elephant. But Graham saw the old depot as a distribution bonanza. After renovating the structure, he has one of the best warehouse and logistics operations in Ohio.

The warehouse provides short-term and seasonal storage, plus open storage for autos.

Graham is not just a warehouseman. Like others in Ohio, he has developed a large menu of third party logistics services, acting as a second work force for area industries. He's made beer cases, repaired cars and retagged clothing, among many assignments.

"The things we're asked to do are not high-tech, but somebody needs to do them and do them quick," says Graham.

The distribution advantages that attracted the government to Marion more than 50 years ago are still apparent to modern day shippers.

"Ohio is the distribution capital of the world," says Graham. "It has transportation infrastructure no one else has."

Marion has service by three Class I rail lines -- CSX, Norfolk Southern and Conrail -- and a piggyback facility. It sits by the four-laned, divided U.S. 23, which is scheduled to become part of the new I-73/74. It is less than an hour's drive from Columbus, the fastest growing city in the Midwest. It is within 650 miles of 65 percent of the U.S. and Canadian population and manufacturing base. And here, in this thriving small city, distributors find costs for space 30-40 percent below those in metro areas.

The Marion Industrial Depot has 1.4 million sq. ft. of warehousing space. In the background is Marion Airport Industrial Park.

The availability of price-competitive storage at Graham's facility is a distinct advantage for Marion, a town of 38,500. It compliments Marion's Airport Industrial Park, just a mile from his depot.

Adjacent to the city's all-weather, dual-runway airport, Marion Airport Industrial Park offers 180 acres, with rail and airside sites and utilities.

CAN DO!, Marion's one-stop business development center, is building a 100,000-sq. ft. spec building in the park. Showing his faith in the economic viability of Marion, Ted Graham invested in a 180,000-sq. ft. spec warehouse. It was snapped up before all the sides were up.

Marion manufacturers and distributors enjoy the benefits of being in a smaller town -- like lower living and operating costs, lower crime rate and affordable housing -- with proximity to Columbus.

Those benefits are among the reasons Marion has attracted a number of Fortune 500 manufacturers and other firms. Marion's industrial community encompasses such firms as Whirlpool, which makes dryers; snack food-maker Wyandot; the Ohio headquarters of GTE; diaper-maker Drypers and more than 150 other firms.