WARREN, Ohio (WKBN) – A major milestone was reached in Warren. A new industrial park was approved for the city.

The Western Reserve Port Authority approved at its February board meeting the finalization of an agreement with West Warren Acquisition to build the West Warren Industrial Park at the site of an area of town known as Westlawn, encompassing the former Western Reserve High School and Deemer Park on the city’s southwest side.

“That [area] hasn’t seen a major investment probably for 40 to 50 years since the Warren Western Reserve High School was built,” says Warren Mayor Doug Franklin.

The 86-acre industrial park will offer meet the needs of existing local companies looking for modern space to expand, as well as attract companies looking to capitalize on developments.

“Because of Ultium, because of Foxconn and because of all of this major development, there’s a lot of supply chain manufacturers and there’s a lot of economic growth right now,” says Anthony Trevena, executive director of the Western Reserve Port Authority. “Companies are looking to try to move in the area, expand in the area, and we just don’t have the facilities for that.”

The 100,000-square-foot spec building will offer manufacturing and warehouse space.

Developers say there’s not a lot of Grade A real estate for industrial space in the Mahoning Valley, and there’s not a lot of space for vendors to relocate closer to these large projects.

“The passion and the need that we saw was we either need to create the space or we’re going to start losing these projects to other areas of the state,” says Wiley Runnestrand with West Warren Acquisition. “We want that supply chain to be located here because we want the jobs here. We want the people to live here.”

The property is owned by the City of Warren and Warren City Schools and is three miles from key state routes and downtown Warren.

The port authority said the parcel is “shovel ready.” Construction is expected to begin in late some and to take 14 to 20 months.