Transformed a shuttered paper mill into a tech hub—igniting Southwest Ohio’s innovation economy.
Vora Technology Park, founded by Mahendra Vora and Tim Matthews in 2005, is a 55-acre, 500,000+ sq. ft. innovation campus in Hamilton, Ohio, created to bring high-tech jobs and new-economy energy to a city devastated by industrial decline. The site had once housed Champion Paper’s corporate headquarters, but its closure in the late 1990s resulted in the loss of over 1,000 jobs—leaving behind an abandoned industrial landmark and a shaken local economy. Seeing both a challenge and an opportunity, Mahendra acquired the property and made a bold promise: to restore life to the campus and rebuild Hamilton’s economy through technology and innovation.
Over the next decade, Vora Technology Park became a centerpiece of Southwest Ohio’s tech resurgence. Leveraging a massive underground water reservoir once used by the mill, Mahendra converted the site into an ideal location for water-cooled data centers, operating at up to 40% lower cost than traditional DX-cooled facilities, making it one of the most energy-efficient data center sites in the Midwest. The Park also became home to high-growth companies such as Cincinnati Bell, Kroger, and CenterGrid, generating thousands of skilled jobs and national recognition for its private-sector-led urban revitalization. More than a business park, it became a platform for innovation, job creation, and civic renewal, transforming a symbol of decline into a beacon of economic rebirth.
