32 January and February 2018
RDA Happenings
Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention & Visitors Bureau
What an exceptional year for Emporia . The Simmons Pet Food expansion announcement on November 1st was huge . The ½-Cent City Sales Tax for industrial development was approved by 74 % of the voters , sun-setting on December 31 , 2034 . Then Emporia had three high-quality recruitment projects and we made the short-list . Simmons Pet Food Expansion
Kent Heermann President , Regional
Development Association of East Central Kansas
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOC . of EAST CENTRAL KANSAS
The Regional Development
Association of East Central Kansas ( RDA ) is the lead economic development organization for Lyon County and the Emporia area . The four members of the RDA are the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce , Emporia Enterprises , the City of Emporia , and Lyon
County . The RDA is located with the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce and the Convention and
Visitors Bureau at the
Trusler Business Center , 719 Commercial , Emporia , KS 66801 . Kent Heerman
RDA President , can be contacted at 620-342-1600 ext . 16 , or kheermann @ emporiarda . org .
On November 1st Simmons Pet Food announced the Emporia Flexible Packaging facility expansion . This expansion will add substantial capacity for the wet pet food cup , tub , and pouch packaging format for Simmons customers .
The investment is in excess of $ 39,000,000 with the construction of a new 200,000 sq . ft . production facility , and state of the art processing and packaging equipment . The facility will be north of the Simmons 1300 East Logan Avenue facility . A 121,000 sq . ft . building addition on the 1400 East Logan Avenue facility is proceeding .
The Emporia Simmons Pet Food campus , will be on 130-acres , with combined square footage in excess of 900,000 sq . ft . in all three buildings .
Today ’ s full-time employment at Emporia Simmons Pet Food campus is in excess of 500 full-time employees . This initial expansion of 100 employees , has the potential of an additional 100 employees in the next 3 to 5 years . The projected estimated annual payroll with the additional 100 employees is $ 39,442,000 and in the future with the 200 additional employees is $ 45,277,000 .
Simmons considered other locations for this project . We made the strong case for Emporia , and at the end of the day , Simmons chose to continue investing in Emporia . It ’ s been a mutually beneficial partnership for the past 20 years . We look forward to a continuing partnership for many decades in the future .
Our metrics of quality job creation , capital investment in real estate , buildings , and equipment , and total square footage are measured annually . Year to date totals are tabulated from the beginning of the sales tax in 1995 . The year to date total capital investment is $ 968,689,000 with the construction of over 2,566,168 sq . ft . of buildings , and the creation of over 2,000 new full-time jobs . Since 2013 , 900 of those 2,000 jobs have been created .
With that exceptional Return on Investment , and the announcement of the Simmons Pet Food project , the ½-Cent City Sales Tax was approved by 74 % of the voters . This will provide a funding stream to the continued quality higher-salary job growth , capital investment increases the real property tax base , and a growing economy . Animal Health Corridor / Pet Nutrition
Years ago at a Kansas City Area Development Council meeting , Bob Marcusse , the former KCADC President , was giving a presentation on how the Animal Health Corridor was