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Committee advances incentive package to bring Canon Healthcare USA headquarters to Cleveland
Summary
Cuyahoga County staff presented a performance‑based grant incentive (not to exceed $1,471,526.02) to bring Canon Healthcare USA’s U.S. headquarters and research operations to 10500 Cedar Ave; the package includes job‑creation payments, retention requirements and clawback provisions and was moved to full council for second reading.
The Cuyahoga County Economic Development & Planning Committee on April 14 voted to send to full council a proposal to authorize a performance‑based grant incentive to Canon Healthcare USA to relocate its national headquarters and research operations to 10500 Cedar Ave in Cleveland.
Paul Hertig of the Department of Development said the county is not drawing from the general economic development fund; instead, staff will use funds generated by the project itself (an amount tied to a loan payoff) to finance the agreement. "We are not taking $1,500,000 from the county's economic development fund. We are spending money that came into our fund only because of this project," Hertig said.
Staff described the incentive as an earned grant rather than a loan: Canon would document verified new jobs and receive roughly $10,000 per new job, paid once and subject to retention and clawback provisions. The package requires Canon to retain the 50 high‑paying headquarters/research jobs for seven years and any additional jobs created (targeted at 100) for five years; staff said any unearned incentives remain in the economic development fund.
Hertig and Canon representative Tsunio Yimai said the company will consolidate training and research and run national operations from the facility. Staff summarized complementary incentives negotiated by other jurisdictions and partners: an Ohio payroll tax credit (staff estimated ~$2.1 million), a Cleveland payroll tax credit valued at about $468,000 on the initial 50 jobs, and an extension of an existing commercial property tax abatement (estimated at roughly $1.8 million). Hertig said the county will audit job reports if necessary and will withhold payments for jobs not verified or retained.
The committee voted to forward the resolution to the full council for a second reading to allow finalization of the incentive agreement and related documents.
Next step: full council consideration and, if approved, phased disbursements after annual verification of job creation.
