A business confidence survey conducted at the midpoint of 2004 by the Greater Des Moines Partnership found that 39 percent of business leaders responding anticipated a hiring increase at their companies in the second half of the year. That outlook was bolstered by another expectation: 46 percent saw an increase in company capital expenditures coming in 2005.
      Voters in Des Moines in 2004 turned back a city-county merger effort. But that wasn't stopping homegrown success story Kemin Industries, a maker of nutritional products for human food, supplements and livestock feed, from pursuing further growth in the city --provided incentives could be furnished at all levels.
      In the end, that's what happened. Kemin is pursuing an $18-million, 50,000-sq.-ft. (4,645-sq.-m.) expansion that will create up to 40 jobs at the company, which currently employs nearly 300 in Des Moines and occupies some 200,000 sq. ft. (18,580 sq. m.). Company President Chris Nelson tells Site Selection the hope all along was to grow where Kemin is planted.
      "Des Moines and Iowa have been very good to us in the past," he says. "We were not going to shop around, unless we got back a proposal that was unreasonable." The company put together its expansion proposal, then waited to see what came back, and whether it worked "after being cranked through our financial models."
      As it turned out, with the help of coordination by the Partnership, the company's incentives wishes came true nearly simultaneously with the state, city council and county.
      "[The Partnership] got us in contact with each of the appropriate people at the various government bodies," says Nelson, and arranged a meeting where the right people from all three were present to answer relevant questions.
      Kemin invested $24 million and added 76 employees in Des Moines in 2000. Over the last 15 to 20 years, the company had invested many times in major capital programs, but never in an office, says Nelson. "We are leasing a significant amount of facilities here in Des Moines," he says. "It's time to invest in office space."
      That said, about 20 percent of the investment will be devoted to "de-bottlenecking" a manufacturing process at Kemin.Nelson thinks a city-county merger with the proper structure that eliminates overlap between county and city would benefit the Des Moines area. Asked about the state-level measures being proposed by the governor, he sees the Iowa Values Fund as an "extremely positive economic stimulus to the state." As for property tax reform, "There is no doubt Iowa's property tax system does not encourage businesses to be here," he says. "It is a significant cost for us, and any relief we would welcome strongly."
      Meanwhile, Kemin will welcome $330,000 from the state's Community Economic Betterment Account, $250,000 from its Physical Infrastructure Assistance Program and enterprise zone tax benefits. More than $1 million came from the city, comprising a 10-year, $800,000 tax abatement and a $300,000 forgivable loan. And the county anted up a $1.25-million loan.
      In addition to growing offices in China ("70,000 sq. ft. [6,503 sq. m.] of labs, offices and manufacturing," says Nelson), Kemin also operates independent companies in Belgium, India and Singapore, and just opened a new plant in South Africa. The company employs some 900 people worldwide.