Michelle Nicholson speaks with Crain’s Cleveland about her success repurposing the former Babcock & Wilcox property in Barberton, Ohio.

Barberton is having what might be called a magic moment.

The city has in spades what a lot of companies want right now: available industrial buildings and buildable lots in a market that is starving for such space. It also has a city government and powerful community foundation working to maintain and market those properties to employers — a partnership the two entities and others say is producing results.

“The market is awesome,” said Michelle Nicholson, director of sales at ICP, the Solon property developer that in 2020 partnered with Industrial Realty Group (IRG) to take over and repurpose the former site of Babcock & Wilcox in Barberton. “We have a lot of great things happening in Barberton right now. We’re really pleased with the progress there.”

The former Babcock site’s status as a source of optimism for Barberton says a lot about how far the city has come in just a few years. It was a source of fear and anxiety back in 2019, when the city failed to convince Babcock & Wilcox to stay, and the company announced it was taking its roughly 700 jobs to Akron. CLICK TO READ ENTIRE ARTICLE: