Published 12/7/2011 in Garden City Telegram
By SHAJIA AHMAD
sahmad@gctelegram.com
A Wyoming-based logistics company has signed a contract with Finney County
officials to lease county-owned land at an industrial site in Garden City,
and could be moving dirt in the upcoming weeks, company representatives
said.
County commissioners met with representatives from Casper, Wyo.-based
Transportation Partners and Logistics LLC during a brief special meeting
early Tuesday to sign a one-year lease to use 35 acres of county-owned land
at a site near the intersection of Jennie Barker Road and U.S. Highway
50/400.
The logistics company plans to utilize the site that is adjacent to the
railroad tracks as an offloading and distribution site for wind generating
components, such as blades, towers and more. The site will be used to
unload, store and transfer wind turbine components from railcars to trucks,
they said.
Representatives of the company, President Jim Orr and Vice President Billy
Brenton, said in a separate interview that they expect their new operations
to generate 20 to 25 full-time jobs, including jobs for crane operators,
riggers, quality control employees and on-site managers.
About five of those jobs will be employed by outsiders, according to the
company president.
"The rest will be local, if we can find them," Orr said.
The company's move to Garden City is contingent upon the business reaching
private agreements with Wind River Grain, 2810 E. U.S. Highway 50, and
Conestoga Energy, 2830 E. U.S. Highway 50, to utilize the railway adjacent
to their property, according to Lona Duvall, interim president of the Finney
County Economic Development Corp.
Duvall said the business contacted local officials like herself last
Thursday about their interest in the county-owned industrial site, and a
deal was quickly worked out between county and company officials to lease
the property.
"They're a logistics company, which means they get stuff from point to
point. ... They needed a location close to their clients in the wind
industry. Garden City fit into that parameter," Duvall said. "Now the public
entities have cleared the way."
The lease agreement county commissioners unanimously approved Tuesday
includes rental of the land through Dec. 31, 2012, at a rate of $45,000, or
$3,750 per month.
The legal agreement also reads, "In the event that TP&L is not successful in
securing the business activity related to the wind tower, TP&L will have the
right to cancel this agreement and pay Finney County a sum of $3,750."
The company's representatives said in a separate interview that they do not
plan to build any permanent structures at the site, only mobile offices.
Orr and Brenton also said though they are based out of Wyoming and they have
another logistics office in Fort Worth, Texas, they chose the Garden City
area due to its location and because their clients and contractors are
located in surrounding states, such as Oklahoma, Colorado and southern
Nebraska.
Orr said it is his and his business partner's hope that they will work out
private agreements with the neighboring businesses at the site in order to
operate the railroad track in the next few weeks before they start ground
work.
The county acquired proprietorship of the 50-acre property through a
private-public agreement and with the aid of city officials in the hope of
turning the location into an industrial park.
Starting in 2010, local officials worked to acquire the land via an
agreement that included the two governmental agencies, Bonanza BioEnergy
(Conestoga) and the Kansas Department of Transportation. As part of the
legal agreement, the city and county agreed to pay off a $1 million KDOT
loan for Bonanza at a 2 percent interest rate over the next decade.
In exchange for loan's repayment, the ethanol company agreed to sell its
50-acre property to the county for $1.
KDOT also supplied the ethanol company with a half-a-million-dollar grant
for the construction of its $2.58 million railroad spur adjacent to the
plant, to accommodate the company's increased track usage.
Company officials had said at the time they'd be open to allowing other new
business to share the railway and railway spur.
City Manager Matt Allen, along with Mayor John Doll, also were present at
Tuesday's brief county meeting, where county commissioners signed and
approved the company's lease agreement.
Allen said he did not have many comments to share, but did say he
appreciated the quick turnaround.
"Just a thank you for your timely response to the prospect," Allen told
county commissioners Tuesday.
In addition, County Commissioner Dave Jones commended the work of FCEDC
staff and board members on the project.
"I want to commend (FCEDC) folks," he said, adding jokingly that it was nice
to see more than a "hot dog stand" on the industrial land.
TP&L is one of the many business prospects the publicly-funded economic
development corporation is working with in the interest of its public
partners: Finney County, Garden City, Holcomb and Garden City Community
College.
Most businesses remain unidentified until substantial progress on their
expansion or relocation is made, due to FCEDC honoring confidentiality
agreements with the prospective clients.
Another unidentified business that FCEDC staff have been working with also
has located a property that meets its needs in Finney County and is expected
to create at least 80-full-time jobs at full operations. Duvall has said
city and county officials are working on a tax abatement package for the
relocating business, which also remains unnamed due to confidentiality
agreements.
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