Off the I-70 Trail

Home is increasingly found in the second- and third-tier cities that lie just outside the Kansas City and St. Louis metros. In St. Joseph, Mo., home to operations from multinationals like Sara Lee, Johnson Controls and Weyerhaeuser, Concord, Ontario-based automotive supplier Progressive Molded Products has begun operations in a new $10-million plant that will employ 200 by August 2003.
        The $10-million project will serve the dashboard component and center console needs of the Chevy Malibu, assembled at the expanding General Motors Fairfax plant in nearby Kansas City, Kan., beginning in August 2003. Approximately 200 employees will work in the 60,000-sq.-ft. (5,600-sq.-m.) building, which the company already plans to grow to 90,000 sq. ft. (8,300 sq. m.).
        The company received tax credits from the State as a result of their loc ation in an enterprise zone, the county provided $150,000 in economic development funds. Meanwhile, the city granted a 100-percent abatement of real property taxes for one year, and an 85-percent abatement over the next seven years.
        Among measures recently approved by St. Joseph voters was a five-year extension of a capital improvements program, which includes dedicating $5.4 million to a new business park's infrastructure. St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce President Patt Lilly says it was a quick four-month site selection process, helped along by both good online marketing by the community and proactive research by the corporation.
        "They did a fair amount of due diligence up front," he says. "When they called us, they had already identified the buildings and sites they wanted to look at. They had narrowed their search down to us, K.C, Joplin and Columbia [Mo.]. Here, they looked at two buildings. One of them was a new manufacturing facility that the company had closed eight to 12 months ago, and the other was a spec building, which was ultimately the one they chose."
        Progressive, based in Concord, Ont., also operates a manufacturing facility in McAllen, Texas. It recently won GM's Supplier of the Year award for the fourth consecutive year.
        St. Joseph is building on its location near the confluence of Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska, as well as near a geographical confluence of animal health care firms that encompasses most of the major names in the field. In St. Joe, operations from Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, and Boehringer offshoot Phoenix Scientific continue to thrive. The city is also hoping to capitalize on new St. Joseph Regional Port on the Missouri River, complete with Union Pacific rail transloading capability.
        Further south, Chillicothe has welcomed new operations from custom-logo apparel maker Gear for Sports (100 employees) and frozen food packaging firm Associated Packaging Technologies, which will invest $18 million. By next year, the company hopes to nearly triple the size of its initial 51,600-sq.-ft. (4,794-sq.-m.) facility, and with it bring on 120 more people to add to its initial payroll of more than 100. The Jupiter, Fla.-based company also operates plants in Cambridge, Ont.; Waynesville, N.C. and Carrickmacross, Ireland, where another doubling of capacity is under way.

Associated Packaging Technologies is investing $18 million in a tripling of space and a doubling of employment at its new plant in Chillicothe.

        Proximity to its present customer base was a major issue for APT, but basic real estate was crucial to the final decision.
        "APT looked at several sites within Missouri -- Chillicothe, Carrolton, Marshall, and Booneville," says Tony Gallo, director of sales engineering. "The company worked with the State Economic Development Committee to pare the list in half, with Booneville and Chillicothe making the cut with very similar offerings. Both locations had similar buildings available. Both had well recommended contractors who made presentations. Ultimately, APT went with Chillicothe because the contractor (Chillicothe and Copland) would erect the building on a lot within the industrial park that had room for expansion."