REDI educates site selection consultants about Columbia

Columbia must be nimble, quick and proactive to respond to changes in the marketplace, REDI officials say, if it is to rebound from losses in the manufacturing sector.

Stung by recent closures of plants that made parts for the U.S. auto industry—which is facing stiff international competition, highlighted by the recent news that Toyota has overtaken General Motors as the world’s largest automaker—Columbia’s Regional Economic Development Inc. (REDI) is changing its tactics to attract new manufacturers.

“You’ve just got to be adaptable and flexible,” said Bernie Andrews, president of REDI. “The two plants that have closed in Columbia basically made a specific part or two for primarily the domestic auto industry. So a replacement company that might have a more diversified product line—for example, that makes products for several different industries—might be a little more stable.”

To fill a considerable amount of vacant or soon-to-be-vacant manufacturing space, in March REDI adopted a new category to encourage “manufacturing reinvestment” so that manufacturing companies could benefit from the Boone County Chapter 100 incentive bond program. To qualify, the company must invest a minimum $5 million in Boone County and create at least 50 jobs.
“The inquiries we had received from other manufacturing firms about those facilities all asked about the local incentive package,” Andrews said. “However, the Boone County Chapter 100 policy that was in place several months ago did not allow for manufacturers new to the area to qualify,” Andrews said.

Providing a diverse economy that generates different types of jobs is important, Andrews said.

“Manufacturing jobs can typically be good-paying jobs with benefits,” he said. “They bring new money into the area from outside, so they also create other spin-off activity. It is also good to have diversity in the local employment base because not all of the citizens will have the education and training for life science or technology jobs.”

REDI also is continuing its drive to introduce Columbia to national site-selection consultants. Andrews said site-selection consultants handle an estimated 40 percent of the major projects nationally.

“You’ve just got to get them in here because we’re not on the East Coast, we’re not on the West Coast, and we’re not a large metropolitan area such as Chicago, Kansas City or St. Louis,” said George Carney, REDI chairman of the board. “I think probably more and more businesses are looking at communities like Columbia, or our size, to bring jobs because of the cost of living. And, as you know, we don’t have the traffic that Kansas City and St. Louis have.”

The most recent consultant visited in February from Angelou Economics in Austin, Texas, a company whose client base is primarily technology-related firms looking to expand, Andrews said. “The consultant indicated that biotechnology, nanotechnology, information technology and data center projects are the types of projects that will be ‘siting’ over the next several years,” Andrews said. “We have some great strengths in many of those areas based around the university and other colleges in the area.”

In the past six months, REDI has brought to town consultants for two national site-selection firms: Location Management Services from Mission Viejo, Calif., and CH2M Hill/Lockwood Greene of Atlanta, Ga. REDI also plans to participate in a Missouri Economic Development Council marketing project to bring site selection-consultants to Missouri for the organization’s spring conference at the end of May. Participating communities have the opportunity for one-on-one meetings with the consultants.

The REDI initiative aims to give the site selectors firsthand knowledge of what Columbia and Boone County have to offer, promoting potential industrial sites such as the new Discovery Ridge Research Park, getting outside opinions about the region’s potential weaknesses, and educating local business and university leaders about the site-selection process and what factors are important to professional site selectors and their clients. In part, comments from the consultants helped lead REDI to adopt its Chapter 100 policy and changes to it.