LORDSTOWN, Ohio - A new Navy shipyard maintenance facility may be on its way to Lordstown.

According to a document sent by Lordstown Mayor, Arno Hill, the facility will be part of the Lordstown-Lorain Project, which would add geographic diversity and expand the overall labor pool in the Valley. 

"Lordstown will be the Navy's centralized equipment depot for the nuclear powered fleet aircraft carriers and submarines," said Ed Bartlett, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Bartlett Maritime Corporation. "There's a gap in the Navy's ability to overall maintain their submarines. They need this capability desperately in order to properly maintain all of their ships."

Bartlett Maritime Corporation is proposing this 30 year private public partnership model, working with the federal, state and local governments.

Bartlett said this could bring in thousands of skilled trade jobs to Lordstown.  

The document states that Ohio was chosen due to the state having an available industrial revenue bond program, which can fund the multi-billion dollar capital cost of the facilities in a three-way public partnership.

"It's going to be a maintenance facility at the Lordstown location," said Arno Hill, Mayor of Lordstown. "We won't have the actual ships there but we'll have everything which gets refurbished in Lordstown."

Bartlett told 21 News the work that would happen in Lordstown would consist of rehabilitating equipment that has previously been on Navy ships. Bartlett Maritime Corporation reached out to Mayor Hill about their interest in Lordstown shortly after General Motors announced they were closing. 

The facility was originally proposed in 2019, but was rejected.

Plans were resubmitted in December of 2020 amending all declination comments. Bartlett Maritime Corporation is proposing this 30-year private public partnership model while working with the federal, state and local governments.

"The Lordstown location will be approximately be a 1 million square foot factory where we will overall maintain, inspect and potentially manufacturer some equipment for both submarines and aircraft carriers," Bartlett said. 

Bartlett was in Washington D.C. Thursday where the AFL-CIO endorsed the project.

Congressman Tim Ryan, Vice Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee has been behind this project since it's start. His office told 21 News he's hopeful it will come to fruition.

Bartlett said employees will be trained at existing naval ship yards. "To get some experience working around the nuclear powered ships, the process and the equipment," Bartlett added. 

"When you have a million square foot facility, you're going to have a lot of trades in there," Hill added. "You'll have painters, machinists, so it's going to be a very interesting project. We're hoping for the best."

The formal proposal is currently being reviewed by the Navy. Bartlett said he hopes the company is under contract within the next month. 

If granted final approval, Bartlett and Hill said ground breaking on the project could start as early as October 2022.