Plans for local Kimberly-Clark plant progressing
Ken Haidaris owns Warren's Sunrise Inn, which will be one of the closest restaurants to the Kimberly-Clark plant should it open.
'When you have a Fortune 500 company come to the area, it sends a message that we're open for business,' Haidaris said.Guy Coviello, President of the Youngtown/Warren Regional Chamber, was among those at a December 2023 meeting where it was announced that Kimberly-Clark had bought half of the land where Republic Steel once operated. But then nothing was said about it — for well over a year — until 10 days ago, when a $17 million infrastructure grant was announced for infrastructure improvements on the property, plus property tax breaks in Howland and Warren Townships. The Trumbull County Commissioners approved a property tax break for Kimberly-Clark.
'The system is working much better now than it has ever worked,' Coviello said. 'I think we are finally at a point where you'll see things happen rather rapidly this spring and then over the next several years.'
Coviello said various economic development agencies and governmental groups have worked together, unlike 14 years ago when Youngstown and Girard squabbled over who would get the tax money from a new Vallourec plant.
'And it was a war. And we almost lost it. And then you look at this property that straddles multiple jurisdictions, more than two, and there hasn't been any real outward controversy about this,' Coviello said.
Should Kimberly-Clark build the plant and create 500 jobs, it will put pressure on the chamber but a good kind of pressure.
'To really ramp up its effort to grow talent, to grow population, to grow the housing stock, because that has to be running in parallel to the job creation,' Coviello said.
'We've all lived through the tough times, black Mondays and all that. Now we're on the other side where we're coming up again and there's a lot of great news,' Haidaris said.
Before construction of the plant can begin, it must be approved by the Kimberly-Clark Board of Directors, which is scheduled to meet May 1.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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