Thursday, June 01, 2000
Fidelity growth includes 450 jobs
By Patrick Crowley
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON — The $30 million, 450-job expansion announced Wednesday by Fidelity Investments will have a nearly $200 million impact on the region's economy, according to a University of Cincinnati study.
Fidelity, the Boston-based mutual fund and financial services company, unveiled plans Wednesday to build a 180,000-square-foot, four-story addition to its Midwest Regional headquarters, which is on a 188-acre hilltop campus adjacent to Interstate 275 in south Covington.
Construction will begin immediately and is scheduled to be completed in early 2002, said Fidelity Site General Manager Paul Smith.
The expansion will bring Fidelity's employment at Covington to 3,000 and to an estimated 4,300 throughout Greater Cincinnati.
“This is a great day for Covington, for Northern Kentucky and for our entire region,” said Kenton County Judge-executive Dick Murgatroyd, one of the many local and state elected officials who took part in the groundbreaking ceremony.
An economic study also released Wednesday by University of Cincinnati economics professor Tom Zinn found that the expansion will have a total economic impact of $190.8 million.
“Both construction and new hiring will result in additional spending,” Mr. Zinn, who also serves as economist for the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, said in the study.
“The subsequent "ripple effects' or multipliers will permeate the entire regional economy with substantial additions to ... business sales, household earnings and employment,” Mr. Zinn said.
The economic impact includes:
ã$71.3 million in construction spending.
ã2,015 jobs outside of those created at Fidelity.
ã$66.7 million increase in household earnings.
ã$42.1 million increase in retail sales.
Covington Mayor Jim Eggemeier said Fidelity's impact on Covington goes far beyond jobs and dollars.
The company has donated money and time to schools and community groups, such as the Carnegie Arts Center in Covington.
“We love the jobs, we love the tax base,” Mr. Eggemeier said. “But it needs to be noted also that (Fidelity) has contributed to this community in a lot of small ways.”
Through an incentive package negotiated by the Tri-County Economic Development Corp. and the state of Kentucky, Fidelity will receive tax credits of up to $7.5 million over 10 years for locating in Northern Kentucky.
The company, which opened the Covington operation in 1995, had also considered building the expansion in Dallas.
“This is just one more example of when you work together, you create better opportunities for more Kentuckians to have that high quality of life and that standard of living that we're all striving for,” said Gov. Paul Patton, who also took part in the announcement.
In 1992, while serving as lieutenant governor and the state's economic development secretary, Mr. Patton helped persuade Fidelity to build the headquarters in Covington.
Mr. Smith said Fidelity is considering another expansion and will decide on more construction at Covington within a year.
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