SOUTH POINT — Attracting a company to Lawrence County takes more than offering a building and an able workforce. Nowadays many companies, especially international ones, want to provide amenities to their employees.

The Lawrence Economic Development Corporation learned that when a prospective German firm declined to come to The Point industrial park, that company relocated to Kentucky instead.

“We want more for our employees,” Dr. Bill Dingus, executive director of the LEDC said the company told him.

That’s when the LEDC got moving on creating a health and wellness center for workers at The Point, as well as the Tri-State.

Those initial plans were unveiled at Tuesday’s LEDC annual meeting at the Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce.

In charge of the project is Dr. Scott Howard, executive director of the Ohio Strategic Training Center.

Right now there is a variety of designs from a campus-style center to multi-floor building.

“That would be a 160,000-to-200,000 square-foot facility,” Howard said about the single facility. “The final design has not been realized.”

Among the services would be a 24-hour-5-day-a-week childcare center and three pools, including one for rehab and one for recreation.

“We want to give every child in Lawrence County the opportunity to swim,” Howard said.

There would also be a walking track, spa and exercise equipment area.

“This is where we can help parents and children to live nutritional lives,” he said.

Two of the significant features would come from the medical and childcare sections, Dingus said.

“Any midnight workers could have a place where their child would be safe,” he said.

Also with a medical facility on site, an employee can get back on the job faster.

The LEDC wants to partner with private investors with funding sources coming from memberships, property rentals, a spa and a restaurant.

“There would be numerous streams of revenue,” Dingus said. “It would serve the whole Tri-State.”