GPRS Moving Its Headquarters To Maumee, Adding 120 New Jobs In Arrowhead Park

BY MIKE McCARTHY | MIRROR EDITOR — Maumee City Council has awarded a jobs grant to a national firm which is relocating its corporate headquarters to Arrowhead Park. The action was taken at the September 6 meeting of city council.

Ground Penetrating Radar Systems LLC has purchased the former Paramount Health Care building located at 1901 Indian Wood Circle in Maumee. The company plans to bring in an initial workforce of 120 new employees with salaries averaging just under $58,333, thus qualifying the firm for the jobs grant.

CEO Mark Aston filed the jobs grant application with the city of Maumee as a method to recoup a small percentage of his investment in those jobs. Under the terms of the city’s incentive program, the maximum annual jobs grant award payout would be $20,000 per year with a 10-year cap of $200,000. The firm must remain in Maumee and employ enough workers for at least 10 years to receive the maximum award.

GPRS is currently headquartered in Sylvania Township but has outgrown its space and has plans to expand its present workforce of nearly 700 employees nationally.

The building at 1901 Indian Wood Circle is approximately three times the size of its current office building, and GPRS plans to invest approximately $2 million in renovations before the firm moves in, according to a report filed by the city administrator.

“I expect our company to double in size over the next three years and we plan on using the building at 1901 Indian Wood Circle as our headquarters,” said Aston as he addressed council. “As we double in size, I expect the number of support jobs in the headquarters to see a substantial growth and I appreciate your consideration for this grant.”

Aston started the firm by himself in 2001. In just over 20 years, he has grown GPRS into the largest private subsurface contractor in the United States, according to the company’s website.

The firm specializes in ground penetrating radar, video pipe inspection, utility location, concrete scanning, leak detection, mapping and modeling and 3-D laser scanning services. The business primarily serves the construction industry and plays an important role in preventing its customers from incurring costly damages when excavating or cutting into concrete slabs.

During the petition and communications portion of the September 6 meeting, city council approved and placed on file the following three items:

• A report to the city administrator from The JDI Group Inc. concerning civil engineering services for work involving new waterlines on East William Street, Gibbs Street, Clinton Street and East Indiana Street.

• A notice from the Ohio Division of Liquor Control on the transfer application by Uptown Fondue & Wine Bar LLC dba Uptown Fondue & Wine Bar, 422 Conant St., for a TREX permit from G. Michael Inc. of Columbus.

• A Parks & Recreation Committee report from August 29.

During the consent calendar portion of the meeting, council:

• Authorized the city administrator to enter into an agreement with TTL Associates Inc. to provide construction quality control testing and inspection services in the amount of $49,417 relative to the Uptown Maumee Street-scape Improvements Project. The firm has experience with the project, having already completed testing services for the 200 block of Conant Street, which was completed last fall.

• Declared two damaged Nikon Coolpix cameras from the Maumee Police Division defective and authorized the disposal of both items.

• Declared 12 desks and 12 chairs in the city offices as surplus and authorized the sale of those items of GovDeals.com.

• Canceled the regularly scheduled council meeting on September 19 and rescheduled it for Saturday, September 17 at 9:00 a.m. due to a scheduling conflict with the city administrator.

• Authorized the closing of the 100 block of West Broadway Street between Conant and Allen streets on Sunday, September 18 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. to accommodate the St. Joseph Catholic Church family festival.

In the new business portion of the meeting, council:

• Approved Resolution 025-2022 authorizing the expenditure of public funds in certain situations where a private concern may benefit. An example of this is when the city must “repair, improve, or replace sidewalks, fences, structures, driveways, yards, and other personal property and to restore property to its pre-loss condition, or better, or pre-loss function, or better, during projects in which real or personal property may be damaged or removed.”

• Approved Ordinance 043-2022, which repeals Ordinance 015-2022 and entails clearing up inconsistencies in language concerning the administrative support staff for the city.

• Approved Ordinance 044-2022, which repeals Ordinance 016-2022 and entails clearing up inconsistencies in language concerning management and supervisory personnel for the city.

• Approved Ordinance 045-2022, which repeals Ordinance 017-2022 and entails clearing up inconsistencies in language concerning department directors for the city.

• Approved Ordinance 046-2022, “declaring certain real property as surplus and no longer needed for a municipal purpose and authorizing the sale of said property.”

This involves the small commercial building at 721 Conant St. that the city purchased last year for the purposes of eventual resale as part of the Uptown Maumee Streetscape Improvements Project. The city is selling the building to GLR Ohio #5 Ltd., the entity associated with Burger King, and the plans are to demolish the structure so that the restaurant can expand its operations on Conant Street.

When explaining the action, Mayor Richard Carr said, “This will allow Burger King to completely refurbish their existing restaurant, address the drive-thru and parking, and facilitate a better ingress and egress” in the area where Little Caesars Pizza and the vacant former Family Video building are located.

“This is part of our uptown project,” the mayor stated. “The building has been sitting empty, so it’s nice that we will get that area improved.”

During the citizen comments portion of the meeting, none of the 10 people in attendance chose to speak before council.

The meeting was ad-journed after 27 minutes.

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The next meeting of Maumee City Council is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. on Monday, October 17 in council chambers at the Maumee Municipal Building, 400 Conant St. 

As always, Maumee City Council meetings are open to the public.