Forgent Power Solutions is planting a corporate flag in downtown Columbus, picking the Arena District for an office expansion expected to create 85 jobs and pump $12 million into the local payroll. The electrical equipment maker will invest $3 million to build out new space at 10 W. Nationwide Blvd., signing on for 90,000 square feet under a 10-year lease.
A New Hub for Customer Support and Corporate Strategy
According to dispatch.com, the Columbus office will serve as a hub for customer support and will handle project management and supply chain needs such as finance, human resources and corporate strategy. The move was also detailed in JobsOhio's announcement, which noted the company is locating its growing team in the Arena District. Jonas Peterson, chief economic development officer and president of One Columbus — the economic development organization for the 11-county Columbus region — said Forgent is locating core corporate functions downtown to access customers and talent.
Forgent's Ohio-based CEO, Gary Niederpruem, said Columbus offers the talent and proximity to key customers that make it ideal for the company's growth. Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther said Forgent's decision represents a major long-term commitment to downtown Columbus, while J.P. Nauseef, president and CEO of JobsOhio — Ohio's private nonprofit economic development corporation — said the Columbus operation will create high-value careers and build on the company's existing Ohio presence.
Rapid Growth Fuels the Expansion
The expansion lands as Forgent posts eye-popping numbers. The company reported $1.42 billion in fiscal 2026 revenue, an 89% jump from the previous year, and entered fiscal 2027 with a record $3 billion backlog, per the same dispatch.com account. That follows a stretch in which Forgent's order backlog had already grown by 45% near the end of 2025, as reported by Fortune.
Forgent is a U.S. designer and manufacturer of electrical distribution equipment, specializing in custom engineered-to-order products for technically demanding applications, including transformers, switchgear and prefabricated power solutions for data centers, utilities, industrial facilities and renewable energy projects. Fortune reports the company serves three end markets — data centers, power grids and industrial — and all are expanding, competing with the likes of Vertiv, Eaton, Schneider Electric and GE Vernova. Forgent's CEO has pointed to artificial intelligence as a major driver, telling Fortune that “the AI piece has come on relatively recently, and it's just icing on the cake. There's no doubt AI has added an accelerant.”
The company currently employs approximately 3,000 people and operates 10 manufacturing campuses totaling more than 2 million square feet across North America, the dispatch.com report notes. Forgent filed a Form 10-K annual report on September 15, 2026, with its investor relations site. Separately, the company has also announced a new 500,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Dayton, Minnesota, that is expected to add several hundred jobs over the next few years, producing power skids, e-houses, medium-voltage switchgear and other electrical distribution products, according to Business Facilities.
Columbus Office Market Shows Signs of Life
Forgent's lease adds to a Columbus office market that's been picking up steam even as vacancy lingers. The market recorded more than 1 million square feet of new leasing activity in the second quarter of 2026 — 350,000 square feet more than the first quarter — though the vacancy rate ticked up slightly to 19.21%, according to a Colliers Columbus report. Leasing demand in that quarter was concentrated in the central business district and Dublin, which together accounted for about half of all transaction activity.
Average asking rents in the city dipped to $21.31 per square foot during the quarter, and the construction pipeline stood at a modest 306,036 square feet, concentrated in the CBD, Dublin and Hilliard, per the Colliers data. The quarter's largest new lease outside of Forgent's deal belonged to a confidential tenant that signed for 42,826 square feet at 5525 Parkcenter Circle in Dublin. Ohio was named CNBC's top state for business in 2026, a backdrop that state and local officials have leaned on while courting companies like Forgent to downtown Columbus.
