Corso's project benefits community

Corso's Perennials is pleased to elaborate on a project in Sandusky to repurpose the St. Paul Evangelical Church on Perkins Avenue to utilize for housing, trial gardens to test new plant offerings and a corporate training center. We are excited by the investment in Sandusky and the solution that it presents for our company. Chad Corso Corso's Perennials was founded in 1941 by my great-grandfather and grandmother, August and Veronica Corso. We have served the community providing flowers, perennial plants, and landscaping supplies along with property maintenance services. In recent years, we have expanded our production of perennial plants for home improvement stores across the Midwest. We supply 11 stores in states from New York to Missouri. Our growing operations are located in Perkins and Margaretta townships. Greenhouse growers, like Corso's, increasingly rely on agricultural contract workers from Central America working under the H-2A visa program. The H-2A program is a government program in which agricultural workers are vetted and licensed to work in the United States for up to 11 months. These agricultural workers assist with planting, growing and shipping of perennial plants to our customers. Corso's also hosts college interns pursuing degrees in horticulture primarily through The Ohio State University. Our interns' nationalities are extremely diverse and include the global regions of North America, Central America, South America, Europe and Asia. These students work at both the Perkins and Margaretta farms. Interns are learning best horticultural practices working alongside the Corso's growing staff. Both the H-2A workers and college intern students are currently housed at multiple locations from Sandusky extending out to Sheffield Lake. Our goal is to adapt the St. Paul's church property to house the agricultural workers and adjacent houses for the college interns. We see Sandusky as an ideal solution for these workers. Corso's wants to refurbish the former St. Paul's Church property at West Perkins Avenue and Mills Street to become employee housing, trial gardens to test new plant offerings and a corporate training center. Artist's rendering Provided A small portion of the building and grounds will be dedicated to a corporate training center along with trial garden areas to test new plant offerings. Corso's trials new plant offerings for multiple years before those plants are offered for sale to our wholesale customers. We see our proposed redevelopment project to provide benefits to both Corso's Perennials and Sandusky outlined as follows: The benefits to Corso's Perennials include but are not limited to: Clean and safe housing training center for our workers and access to great recreational activities along with shopping. The benefits to Sandusky are many, including bringing up to 50 to 160-plus workers residing and shopping in Sandusky. The number of employees varies depending on the growing season. Our project also ensures St. Paul Evangelical Church has a viable purchaser providing significant financial resources for that church's future needs.The investment is estimated at $1.5 million, which will generate property tax revenue for our community based on the appraised value when it is finished. We are a family-owned and managed business in Erie County dating back to 1941 that employs 200 area residents. The multi-cultural enrichment to community bringing in workers from localities of North America, Central America, South America, Europe and Asia benefits our community. This also presents the potential to expand the Sandusky Transit System, which will benefit all residents. This project embodies Sandusky's efforts as a "Welcoming City" which promotes community inclusion for people of diversity. We look forward to working with Sandusky on this project and believe it can be a "win" for both Corso's and Sandusky. * Chad Corso is president of August Corso Sons Inc. and Corso's Perennials, Corso's Horticulture.