WORLD HEADQUARTERS OF ECHOGEN TO REMAIN IN AKRON
Published: Sunday, October 02, 2011
Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic today announced that he will introduce legislation to City Council on Monday that will provide a new home for a developing Akron business that is creating a new industrial energy system and new green energy jobs for Akron.
Echogen Power Systems is a private company that has developed a proprietary power generation cycle that turns waste heat into useable energy. The locally-grown company recently received an infusion of $10 million in financing from a Texas firm.
“These are the kind of manufacturing jobs that build on Akron’s strength as a center for making products that change people’s lives,” said the Mayor. “We’re especially proud of the home-grown nature of this company which has expanded its way out of our Global Business Accelerator, and is now ready to make its second move.”
The company will re-locate its 28 employees from the city building that once was home to the Board of Realtors on High Street into its new world headquarters at 58 West Exchange Street with the expectation to grow to at least 45 employees by 2013.
“We found ourselves competing to keep this company in Akron,” said the Mayor. “To their credit, Echogen recognized how much the City and its partners did to nurture their business so they could experience this growth.”
In March, 2011, Echogen received a $10 million cash infusion from Dresser-Rand Group, Inc., a publicly traded energy firm, which acquired a twenty percent ownership interest in the four year old company, and which will have rights to license the Echogen Thermaefficient engine.®
JumpStart Ventures, a non-profit economic development group, which invests in early-stage companies in northeast Ohio has invested $500,000 in Echogen
The target market for the company is large industrial energy consumers that use large direct-fired furnaces or kilns or steam generation, and takes “waste” heat - exhaust gases or residual heat - thrown off by industrial processes, and recovers the energy for useable electricity.
The city acquired the Exchange Street property in 2003, formerly the headquarters of Hamlin Steel. In recent years the property served as the headquarters of the Downtown Akron Partnership and hosted offices of the Akron Marathon. Both entities have moved to new locations.
As part of the deal, the city will do improvements to the interior of the building, and demolish some of the outbuildings, some of which date to the 19th century. Echogen will immediately invest $175,000 in leasehold improvements. The terms of the lease provide for payments of $80,000 in annual rent for a two-year period, when the terms will be re-evaluated. Echogen would also have the right to acquire the property in a subsequent purchase.
