Posted on 04/25/2017 8:47:06 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The largest building permit filed in the city of Joplin since the construction of the new Joplin High School has been issued for the beginning of work on a frozen food manufacturing plant in the Crossroads Center Business and Distribution Park.
The permit, issued to Consolidated Construction on March 24, is worth just more than $29 million. That makes it the largest construction project in Joplin since Sept. 14, 2013, when a permit for $103 million was issued for work on the new JHS.
Notable developments that DEF’s plant will outpace include the new public library at 20th Street and Connecticut Avenue, KCU Joplin and the Owens Corning plant.
“We’ve had a long history here with food processing in the metropolitan area,” Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce President Rob O’Brian said. “We have General Mills, Schreiber Foods, Sugar Creek in Carthage — there’s actually a lot of good (food) products, both human and animal, in this area.”
Hiring at DEF’s Joplin plant is expected to begin early next year, and the company hopes to open in the first quarter of 2018. The plant will begin with 150-200 jobs and will grow to 400 over the next five years, O’Brian said. The company bought a 26-acre tract in the industrial park earlier this year.
The company and its executives will make their first public appearances in Joplin at a news conference at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce, 320 E. Fourth St. DEF, a subsidiary of a so-far undisclosed national food company, is based in Kansas City. The company is expected to address its plan for Joplin and provide more details about its operation Wednesday. The company has so far declined interview requests in advance of the news conference.
“I think this adds momentum in the manufacturing sector but in particular the food processing sector,” O’Brian said. “This is a very strong sector in both human and animal food, and that tends to get the attention of other food processors.”
The Joplin City Council last year provided tax breaks for DEF in the form of Chapter 100 industrial revenue bonds. Under state law, the bonds allow a company’s property to be held under the technical ownership of the city and leased to the company.
The Chapter 100 law allows for the waiver of 100 percent of the new tax liability of the property and its operation for 10 years, and half of those taxes for a subsequent five years. After that, the company would be fully taxable. The bonds do not obligate the city to pay any debt for the plant’s construction.
In exchange for the incentives, the company agreed to build its manufacturing plant on the 26 acres at a cost of more than $26 million with $18 million in machinery and equipment. The contract also required the company to provide at least 375 jobs at a base wage of $34,000 annually, although city documents say the operation expects to employ 415.
400 jobs possible
“Like many in food production, it is an array (of jobs),” said chamber President O’Brian. “So there are some good entry-level jobs, but there’s also some jobs in the automation side of that, maintenance, industrial maintenance, equipment operation, and then, you know, office staffing. Like many of our manufacturers, they run the gamut of jobs that create opportunities for people in the region.”
Joplin is the hometown of Jamie McMurray, one of my favorite NASCAR driver. I’m glad that Joplin came back from that tornado.
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