By Ken Alltucker
Enquirer staff writer

Consumer packaging manufacturer C.W. Zumbiel Co. said it plans to phase out its Norwood operations and relocate up to 400 jobs from Ohio to a new factory being built in Northern Kentucky.

Zumbiel Packaging has arranged purchase of a 30.5-acre site at Hebron's Gateway Industrial Park three miles south of the Interstate 275 loop and west of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Zumbiel's 320,000-square-foot factory is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Zumbiel's initial plans call for shifting about 200 jobs from the company's beverage carton factory on Cleneay Avenue. Zumbiel sold the 9-plus acre site for $8.4 million to Xavier University, which plans to pursue an unspecified redevelopment plan with the city of Norwood.

Zumbiel also employs another 200 workers at its consumer packaging plant on Harris Avenue abutting the Norwood Lateral.

Zumbiel vice president Mark Hausfeld said the company would keep the Harris Avenue plant open for at least "three to four" years. No date has been set for that plant's closing

"Nothing is concrete on phase two (Harris Avenue factory)," Hausfeld said. "It's contingent on business conditions and how well phase one goes."

A Kentucky-approved job-creation tax break could be worth $3.7 million over 10 years if Zumbiel executes a plan to transfer 400 Ohio jobs to Kentucky and create another 65 new positions. The tax credits allow a company to reduce its corporate income tax bill under provisions of the Kentucky Industrial Development Act.

Danny Fore, president of Northern Kentucky's Tri-County Economic Development Corp., said Zumbiel expects to invest $42 million on building and equipment. Plans call for an eventual expansion to beyond a half-million square feet.

"That's a very nice investment for Northern Kentucky," Fore said.

Zumbiel's announcement came the same day that U.S. Secretary of Commerce Don Evans visited Cincinnati to trumpet Ohio's strong job growth and declining unemployment.

For Norwood, the loss of Zumbiel and the company's earnings taxes represents another blow to a city facing economic struggles. Rising deficits may force the city to declare fiscal emergency before year's end.

Rick Dettmer, Norwood's economic development director, said the city anticipated the Zumbiel job loss as part of its fiscal planning process.

"This is not going to break us," Dettmer said. "We've dealt with these transitions in the past. It's an ongoing process when you have an economic base that's in transition and an industrial base that's aging."

John F. Kucia, Xavier's administrative vice president, sent a letter to Norwood leaders earlier this summer outlining the university's plans to create a development that will "foster economic development and serve the needs of the surrounding residential community and Xavier."

Xavier has set no timeline for its Norwood redevelopment plan. Zumbiel told XU that it might continue operations at the Cleneay Avenue factory for up to three years.

Norwood has had success transforming industrial throwbacks such as the former General Motors factory and the former American Laundry building into modern office complexes. But those industrial sites were located along the Norwood Lateral, which are more appealing sites for real estate developers.

The Cleneay Avenue factory is on the eastern boundary of XU's campus. Dettmer said the city is studying redevelopment opportunities across southwest Norwood - including the Norwood Plaza shopping center, where Kroger recently closed a store.

E-mail kalltucker@enquirer.com