HAMILTON — A new joint venture between a local company and a Cincinnati-based Fortune 100 corporation could bring up to 300 jobs to the city in the next 12 months.

This newspaper learned Wednesday night that a new company, KoncertIT, and the Kroger Co. are poised to open a call center and an information technology center at the Vora Technology Park on Knightsbridge Drive.

City Manager Joshua Smith said about 45 jobs should be created by the end of May with the balance of the positions coming by spring 2013.

City officials said the call center jobs would pay between $11 and $15 an hour.

Smith said city officials have also been working with the state to develop a jobs tax credit for the deal that could be worth up to $430,000 if all of the job creation benchmarks are met.

He said the city will also provide $50,000 for capital needs — such as office furniture and equipment — through its economic development revolving loan fund.

Smith said a formal announcement about the joint venture would be made Thursday.

A call to the Vora Technology Park offices Wednesday night was not immediately returned.

The Vora Technology Park is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Vora Group, a Cincinnati-area private equity group specializing in building information technology companies worldwide.

Founded by Mahendra Vora, the Vora Group portfolio consists of 12 ventures in the software, services and infrastructure space with annual revenues of more than $100 million (profitable), employing more than 2,100 people worldwide, according to its website.

Kroger is one of the nation’s largest grocery retailers, with fiscal 2011 sales of $90.4 billion, according to its website.

Kroger operates 2,435 grocery retail stores in 31 states under nearly two dozen banners

Vora Technology Park sits on a 55-acre campus next to the Great Miami River that was once the headquarters of Champion Paper. The 366,000 square foot building is known for its white marble and granite facade.

Current tenants include India LTD , Cincinnati Bell, Cameo Solutions, Ascendum and Amstam Logistics.

Vora has said the campus is ideal for “back-office operations, research and data center operations” because it has a natural aquifer which reduces the cost of heating.

Vora and Timothy Matthews, a Cincinnati-area attorney, recognized the potential of the former Champion Paper headquarters that closed in 2003. Vora and Matthews purchased the facility in January 2005.

The campus already possessed a state-of-the-art data center, a high-tech fiber optic network and access to broadband communications providers — the perfect venue for a technology park, according to the website.

The original T-section of the building was constructed in 1961 and the facility undergone other expansions over the years.

With a booming paper industry, Champion expanded the building by constructing a South East wing in 1979. Continual market growth of the paper industry resulted in a $56-million renovation in 1991 with the addition of a South West wing, which included an additional 100,000 square feet of office space, a four-story atrium with skylights, conference center and a dining hall that could seat 650 people, the website said.

With technology companies beginning to occupy the technology incubator wing, companies began to occupy other floors. Amstan Logistics and Cincinnati Bell moved into the facility in the spring 2006, followed by Butler Tech OnLine, the website said.