Economic development organizations play a major role in business attraction and retention in their respective communities. In a sluggish economy, their roles take on even more importance, and different organizations across the Midwest are using various methods to accomplish their goals.

Piqua, Ohio

The industrial market in Piqua, Ohio, a city of 21,000 residents in Miami County, has weathered the national economic slowdown by keeping and expanding a diverse base of companies.

According to Fred Hollister, director of economic development with the city of Piqua, the city’s various industries lend to its stability.

For example, the automobile and aerospace industries are prominent in Piqua. In addition, there are several companies in the area that manufacture plastics and steel. “We have a broad range of companies that employ between 200 and 300 people as opposed to one or two very large businesses where everybody is in the same industry,” Hollister says.

These businesses have been attracted to Piqua because of its geographic and demographic strengths, which the city and its not-for-profit partner the Piqua Improvement Corp., are responsible for researching and marketing. Piqua is within a day’s drive of 60 percent of the United States, and there is a major CSX rail line that runs through Miami County. Land for industrial sites is plentiful and affordable, and the city has a land-option program that ensures acreage for industrial space is always available. The workforce demographics are just as strong.

“We have a skilled workforce that is familiar with many different types of manufacturing and distribution,” Hollister says. The city helps maintain this high level of skill in its workforce by sponsoring or facilitating informational meetings for companies that require specialized training. “We help companies find the types of consulting or training experts that can most help them,” Hollister says.

Other city-sponsored incentives include tax abatement, deferral programs and business-friendly permitting processes. “We can get city building permits processed in 5 business days,” Hollister says. Piqua also offers savings through its municipally-owned electric utility, which is between 10 percent and 30 percent cheaper than the surrounding investor-owned utilities.

Companies are responding to Piqua’s tactics, as evidenced by two new industrial facilities that broke ground in 2003. Japanese-owned Takata Seat Belts, Inc. completed construction in July on a 71,000-square-foot distribution facility that will supply seat belts to companies such as Honda and Toyota. Swedish-owned PolySource, a plastics manufacturer, broke ground in May on an 80,000-square-foot manufacturing plant. The project will be complete in November.

“Our industrial market has stayed strong because we have had few businesses close or change owners,” Hollister says. “Until this year there had not been much new construction either, so the market remained stable.” For the remainder of 2003, Hollister sees the industrial market continuing to pick up. “We expect growth in the second half to be much like that in the first part of the year,” he says.

Platte County, Missouri

Because of the close proximity of Platte County to the Kansas City International Airport, the county’s economic development council does not have to work hard to differentiate itself from others in the Kansas City metropolitan area. “At the end of the day, the access to the airport is the only thing that sets our dirt apart from our neighbors’,” says Pete Fullerton, executive director of the Platte County Economic Development Council.

Platte County, located in the northwest quadrant of the Kansas City area, has a population of 80,000 and an industrial market of approximately 4 million square feet. Nearly 80 percent of the industrial space is near the airport because of the easy highway access to and from the airport and the readily available utilities and infrastructure.

In addition to transportation benefits, companies also seek the financial benefits available in the airport’s surrounding area. For example, a Missouri Enterprise Zone gives tax credits and benefits to businesses, and industrial revenue bond opportunities are also available to interested businesses. Currently, Opus Northwest is developing Congress Corporate Center, a 150-acre, mixed-use park, in this area.

But the airport is not the only hot spot in the area. The city of Riverside has close to 1 million square feet of existing industrial space, but that is expected to grow when the levee is completed in 2004. The levee will open up 1,000 acres in an area that is currently a flood plain. “Ten years ago, this area was underwater,” Fullerton says. “Even with the threat of flooding, that area has a 95 percent occupancy rate. When you remove that threat, the future is very bright.” With the completion of the levee in sight, the city of Riverside has purchased 500 acres of land and is in negotiation with companies to market the space for industrial product.

With the new space around the levee opening up, Platte County will continue to focus on attracting businesses that fit the current industrial mold, including any type of industry except for heavy manufacturing. One of the more recent types of businesses to arrive in the area is data centers. For example, Liberty Mutual and MasterCard International have both built back-up data centers since September 11, 2001, as an added security measure. “We offer reliable and redundant power as well as a good location away from the eastern seaboard,” Fullerton says.

When attracting new companies to the area, the local economic council is the second point of contact. The Kansas City Development Council makes initial contact and then points appropriate companies to the appropriate councils. “When they have a line on a particular prospect, it is our job to make sure our sites are put into play, and we lock and load these businesses into the community,” Fullerton says.

Fullerton expects industrial development activity in Platte County to flourish in the next 12 months because companies are giving in to a pent-up demand for expansion. “We are well positioned to take advantage of that,” he says.

Marion County, Ohio

Marion CAN DO! (the greater Marion Community Area New Development Organization) is stepping up its approach to industrial job development in Marion County, Ohio. Instead of only facilitating industrial development, the public/private economic development organization is also developing industrial properties in the area. For example, the organization, which serves the 68,000 residents of Marion County, owns one of the two most recent major industrial parks built in the area. It is located 45 minutes north of Columbus.

Currently, Marion CAN DO is in the process of designing and building a 200,000-square-foot manufacturing facility for an automotive supplier in the 6-year-old Marion Dual Rail Industrial Park.

The Marion Dual Rail Industrial Park provides companies the unique advantage of service from both the CSX and the Norfolk Southern railroads. “Projects locating in this park can realize real cost savings inherent to a competitive environment,” says Dave Claborn, president of Marion CAN DO.

However, the Marion Dual Rail Industrial Park is only one option for companies seeking the advantage of North Central Ohio’s logistics. The city of Marion owns the Airport Industrial Park located next to Marion’s municipal airport. Access to air and rail transportation are available at the park, as well as easy access to U.S. 23.

Besides offering a desirable location, the city and county work together to make tax abatements and other incentives available to new and expanding industry, according to Claborn. As a result, Marion County’s industrial mix is growing more diverse.

For example, Wyandot, which makes tortilla and corn chips, employs 350 people at its plant. Other Marion County companies include Silver Line Windows, which recently built a 300,000-square-foot vinyl window manufacturing facility; ConAgra, which operates a 200,000-square-foot distribution center and makes 1 billion bags of microwave popcorn per year in Marion; and Whirlpool, which has a 1.1 million-square-foot dryer plant. “It is the largest dryer plant in the world, turning out 18,000 dryers per day,” Claborn says.

Occasionally, some companies leave the area, but Marion CAN DO works hard to recruit replacement companies. For example, LTV Steel recently filed for bankruptcy and shut down its 270,000-square-foot welded tube mill in the Marion Dual Rail Industrial Park. “But we were successful in bringing Dofasco, a Canadian steel company, to Marion to purchase the plant,” Claborn says. “They picked up operations without missing a beat and have employed most of LTV Steel’s previous employees.” The company is now adding 180,000 square feet to the plant.

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