After more than a year of preparing, a bookkeeping and technology company opened its doors in East Liverpool, leaving the community excited about future developments downtown.
One cafe from the city, Fresh on Fifth, is expanding by moving into the True North building.
“We had the opportunity to work with the owners of a business right down the street that is called Fresh on Fifth. They had outgrown their space. They had a fantastic reputation in the community, but really know where to go,” said Charles Bailey, founder and CEO of True North.
But that's not the only change coming to downtown. The opening of True North in the heart of downtown East Liverpool is immediately bringing jobs to the community.
“What it's really done is started to begin a transformation of the community. This is 55 new jobs that we brought into East Liverpool on day one, but we're going to add an additional 25 to 30 jobs over the next two years,” said Bailey.
One year ago, people gathered downtown to celebrate True North coming to the area. In just one year, multiple businesses have invested into the community.
“We've got True North open yesterday. We've got the Thompson building project going on that'll be done next year. There's several stores have opened recently. A couple have changed hands. We have several restaurants,” said John Mercer Councilman at-large for the City of East Liverpool.
Mercer said just like the True North building, the Thompson building is going through a total renovation.
“We built around 1880 so it was built as a commercial building back then, sat empty for a couple decades, and really was not in great shape, although the building itself is very solid. So we have a company coming in working on it. There's going to be retail on the first floor, professional space on the second floor, and residential on the third,” said Mercer.”
Since these businesses started moving into downtown, attitudes towards the future of East Liverpool are looking brighter.
“Once one thing happens and another thing happens, it just starts to snowball, and you'll see one project after another coming to fruition, and it's a very exciting time,” said Mercer.
“As the other people in the community, the other businesses that exist on this street, and within a mile of downtown, see the changes that are happening here, they're also beginning to invest in their businesses. In fact, I'm already hearing about an additional couple of businesses that may be moving to town over the next 12 months,” said Bailey.
The city's planning department is also starting to plan a highway project after receiving a 30 million dollar federal grant. Construction for the project is not expected to start until 2027 or 2028.