MARCH 2005
Downstate Moves
In the Williamson County city of Marion, just north of where I-24 forks away from I-57 toward Paducah and Tennessee, Aisin Holdings of America is expanding its manufacturing site at REDCO Industrial Park and creating 480 jobs. It is the third expansion project for the company in the past two years.
Aisin Manufacturing Illinois, LLC produces sunroofs and power slide doors and Aisin Light Metals, LLC produces lightweight aluminum extrusions, including bumper reinforcements and other bumper parts. Aisin Electronics Illinois LLC — the new operation — produces electronic components for microcomputer-controlled sunroofs, power sliding door systems and other related electronics.
Together, the three investments have seen $14.5 million in assistance from the state, in addition to grants to the community to aid in transportation improvements.
Indeed, transportation is what drives so many projects downstate.
Two trucking firms are helping the still-growing Gateway Commerce Center find traction in Madison County, Ill., which is proving itself a logistics center at the same time it fights national media coverage and presidential attention to its poor tort environment.
|
In 2004, the center saw USF Holland purchase 29 acres (11.7 hectares) for its 100-door terminal, investing $21 million. That was followed up in late January 2005 with the announcement that Schneider National has purchased 24.4 acres (nearly 10 hectares) for its own facility. The Gateway facility is also building its own trailer drop lot, and has been helped by the Nov. 2004 opening of a second Gateway-dedicated interchange on Interstate 255.
A possible I-255 interchange that has been in development for some 28 years could be at the center of further development nearby. The exact location of the $19-million project is being debated between the City of Columbia and the City of Dupo. According to the Cahokia-Dupo Journal, Columbia's long-term investment in the project dates back to 1977, and includes the annexation of 2,500 acres (1,012 hectares), while Dupo has only recently entered the picture.
Nevertheless, both cities are moving along with industrial development: Columbia with thousands of acres zoned for commercial business, and Dupo with its 1,500-acre (607-hectare) industrial park in partnership with Clayco.
Independent of the dueling developments is a $7-million, 110-employee processing plant from St. Louis-based restaurant supply and food company Kuna Foodservice. But as Dan Bippen, president of Kuna, tells Site Selection, the company's interest extends beyond the facility walls. The company bought "extra acreage to potentially develop an industrial warehouse area," he says.
As for the plant itself, "it was only a few miles from our current location, Bippen says. "The parcel of ground we recently closed on sits right on I-255. The city was very aggressive with making all the little things happen to choose that site. So it came down to the price of the ground and the proximity."
After all, he says, the number one priority was not disrupting the current employee base. After that came the cost of development and the available incentives, as well as additional site prep incentives. The facility will replace a St. Louis plant in St. Louis that Kuna had leased.
