Dominion East Ohio on Tuesday said it plans to build a state-of-the-art technical center in the village of Boston Heights.
The company expects construction to begin this month on the 17-acre site at 418 E. Hines Hill Road with occupancy scheduled for next December, company officials said.
The 37,000-square-foot, multimillion-dollar facility will bring all of Dominion East Ohio’s training resources into one location, company officials said in a news release. The company chose the site because of its central location and convenient access to major highways. The new facility will bring 12 to 14 full-time employees to Boston Heights, where they will develop and deliver technical and job skills training to employees. Currently those employees work in Cleveland and Twinsburg.
No training facilities will be closed as a result of the new center, said Dominion spokeswoman Tracy Oliver.
“Federal pipeline safety regulations and Public Utilities Commission of Ohio rules require Dominion East Ohio to ensure, through training and evaluation of our employees, that they are qualified to perform various tasks on our pipeline system,” said Jeff Murphy, Dominion East Ohio vice president and general manager.
“One of Dominion’s core values is the safety of both customers and our employees,” Murphy said. “We currently provide employee training at several Northeast Ohio locations. This proposed training center will provide all required training at one central location, in a state-of-the-art facility.”
Along with field employees from throughout Ohio, Murphy said the facility will be used to train firefighters and other first responders regarding natural gas safety and procedures for responding to pipeline damage, reported gas leaks, and gas emergencies. “The combination of adequately trained employees and governmental first responders enhances public safety in the communities we serve,” he said.
In a phone interview, Boston Heights Mayor Bill Goncy said the village is pleased that Dominion is bringing its training center to the area that was formerly undeveloped land. It will be next to the Steinway Piano Gallery, which is in the former Harley-Davidson showroom just east of state Route 8.
The area for the training center is perfect because it is not near residential areas.
“This is just another good aspect of Boston Heights developing into things that are needed and one of a kind,” Goncy said.
Dominion did not ask the village for any tax breaks, the mayor said.
The regulated natural gas utility is planning to design and build the training center to meet the Silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification of the U.S. Green Building Council.
“We believe this project will provide many benefits to the village of Boston Heights,” Murphy said. “We are committed to becoming an active corporate citizen in the community and to making the training facility an industry showcase.”
At the new facility, in addition to the classroom and indoor training activities the site will also contain a “Training Town,” to simulate a residential neighborhood, Oliver said. Controlled scenarios will be built into training modules that will allow employees to further develop their leak detection and investigation skills, she said.
The Hines Hill corridor has seen explosive growth recently with the development on the west side of Route 8 of the new Arhaus headquarters, CostCo and Bass Pro Shops. Goncy said some warehouse workers will be in the Arhaus warehouse after the new year with all divisions planned to be in the headquarters between March and June. Costco is slated to open sometime in the spring or summer and Bass Pro will wait until after the winter to start construction, Goncy said.
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her @blinfisherABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/BettyLinFisherABJ and see all her stories at www.ohio.com/betty.