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L'Oreal closing is unanticipated blow
(by Sue Reid - February 08, 2012)
L'Oreal closing is unanticipated blow
By SUE REID
Solon's 14th largest employer, L'Oreal USA, has announced a consolidation of operations and the closing of its plant in the city's industrial district by the end of 2013. The company has had a plant in Solon for nearly 40 years. The move will result in the loss of 260 jobs locally.
The news was presented to the city as a final corporate decision, according to Peggy Weil-Dorfman, Solon's director of economic development. The company did not approach the city for any assistance to remain in Solon, she said.
L'Oreal, which began in the city as Matrix Essentials in 1975, will close the plant, primarily located on Carter Street. It owns three buildings there with a total of about 320,000 square feet.
The company will "definitely be missed," Ms. Weil-Dorfman said.
"They have been in the city for a long time and have been excellent corporate citizens. The company has been involved in the community, and we've enjoyed a wonderful working relationship with them over the years," she said.
"Unfortunately, there has been misinformation about our history with our company circulating," Ms. Weil-Dorfman said. The company and the city have had an excellent relationship through the years, she said.
She clarified that, in 2001, L'Oreal approached the city's planning commission with plans for a major expansion. It involved the demolition of two of the Carter Street buildings and the construction of a 222,000-square-foot addition to the third building.
Ms. Weil-Dorfman explained that the plan was referred to City Council's safety and public properties committee, because there were issues about pedestrians crossing Carter Street.
The safety committee determined, with the traffic engineer's assistance, that there would be no safety issues caused by the expansion and sent it back to planning.
The committee further recommended that Carter Street should have sidewalks, and they subsequently were completed, Ms. Weil-Dorfman said.
At L'Oreal's request, the issue was kept on the planning commission's inactive agenda, and, in 2002, the company asked that it be removed.
The company returned to the city in 2007 with plans to renovate the existing buildings to improve the flow of production and to create a new corporate office entrance, and those plans were approved and completed.
"The city is sad to see a much-valued corporate citizen leave our community," Ms. Weil-Dorfman said, "but we respect their decision that was made for business reasons."
She said the city will await the company's decision regarding plans for the buildings it owns and will assist in marketing the space, as needed.
L'Oreal has a distribution center in Streetsboro which will remain open. Company officials have said those whose jobs are being eliminated would be offered jobs at other L'Oreal plants or receive severance pay.
Ms. Weil-Dorfman said the city has been fortunate in that, last year, it was able to attract three "very good projects" to Solon, resulting in 440 new jobs. "We're fortunate we have that coming in as L'Oreal is departing," she said. "You have to look at this in the aggregate as far as financial impact. Hopefully, the financial impact will be minimal, given the influx of new jobs."
City officials had looked at the new jobs as a gain, "but now it won't be quite as much of a gain," she said.
"On the other hand, we have about two years lead time to find other companies to fill the L'Oreal vacancies," she said. "We hope to have found new businesses by then, but that's hard to predict. That's always the goal."
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