Moraine, OH – Ten years ago when General Motors shuttered operations in Moraine it was a devastating blow to the local economy and workforce.

GM had employed more than 1,000 workers at Moraine Assembly, but the ripple affect to supporting businesses put the unemployed number closer to 7,000 in the five years that followed.

  • More than 1,000 workers affected at GM
  • Recovery initially slow and painful
  • Last three years approximately 4,000 jobs added from various companies

As Moraine struggled with a decline in tax revenue and out-of-work residents, city officials were balancing day-to-day operations with attracting new businesses.

“The citizens had to take some hits to their services,” said Moraine Director of Economic Development Michael Davis.

Davis said streets went unpaved and projects were left unfinished. City workers took a ten percent pay reduction while open positions went unfilled.

But three years ago the fortunes of Moraine started to change.

The 300 acres once occupied by General Motors are now about two-thirds filled. IRG - Industrial Realty Group, bought the property and courted a new business. Chinese-owned Fuyao set up shop in and created more than a thousand jobs. Now, the company employs more than 2,300 people.

IRG brought in about four or five more tenants, according to Davis. One of the tenants supports the ongoing growth of Fuyao.

“Some of our wins over the last five years include Fortune 500 technology companies, distribution companies, and healthcare companies,” Davis told Spectrum News 1. “With us being able to secure another large manufacturer we've really been able to balance ourselves out.”

Overall, Davis believes around 3,500 to 4,000 jobs have been added in recent years. The city has also made back its lost tax revenue.

“We have recovered. We're stable. We've been able to make significant capital improvements over the last 2 to 3 years.”

Roads around Moraine have been repaved, other projects are in the works, and residential developments are beginning to take off.

Davis said city officials had discussed demolishing the GM complex and starting redevelopment from scratch. Ultimately, they felt the existing structure and it's existing square footage would be attractive to some companies.

The GM complex has some buildings dating back nearly 100 years. General Motors first took root in Moraine in the 1950's when its subsidiary Frigidaire began making appliances. It wasn't until the early 1980's when GM started making pickup trucks in Moraine.

Fuyao, founded in 1987 in Fuzhou, China, opened its first U.S-based facility in Moraine and is the largest producer of automobile glass in the world, according to the company's website.

It even supplies automobile glass to, you guessed it, General Motors.