EMPORIA PRIMED, READY TO WELCOME NEW COMPANIES

By Christopher AdAms Special to The Gazette

The Emporia-East Central Kansas area is primed and ready as a permanent destination for companies seeking a relocation opportunity in 2023.

According to the Emporia Regional Development Association (Emporia RDA), the area is well-suited for new companies.

“I feel we’re very competitive,” said Emporia RDA president Chuck Scott. “I think with the announcement of the Simmons expansion last year, it helps prove that. I think you again also look at projects like Panasonic being announced. Eastern Kansas is certainly competitive with other locations in the nation. And then, if you’re looking more at just our region, Emporia, I think we’ve shown we can certainly compete for large projects as well.”

Scott said the region’s lower cost of living on a national scale, available workforce and shovel-ready land could be deal-makers. And despite some labor issues — that plague nearly most regions of the country — Emporia and Lyon County can compete with anybody.

“When we visit with companies look- ing from outside our area to locate here, there’s two things they’re looking for,” he said. “One is, do you have what we call shovel-ready land? So that’s not just land, but you’ve got all your infrastructure, interior, roadwork, all of that’s ready and done. And then two, can you show to me that you can at least provide an adequate labor force?”

“We’ve got capacity. We’ve got a great transportation network between the rail and the highways. We’ve got a corporate airport not far away, which helps get people in and out for some of these companies.”

Scott said the region checks those boxes and can provide potential employees based on the graduation rates of Emporia State University and Flint Hills Technical College.

“Does not mean that all those graduates are looking to stay in the area,” he said. “But we’ve got an opportunity for a company. They can look at that and say, ‘If I come in and I’ve got certain wages, etc., benefits, I’ve got the opportunity or I’ve at least got potential to attract some employees.”

Other factors are also at work. Scott said access to the area’s quality infrastructure, including city services, water and sewer, is a decisive factor. The area’s transportation networks capacity, i.e., rail, highways and airport are selling points as well.

“We’ve got capacity,” he said. “We’ve got a great transportation network between the rail and the highways. We’ve got a corporate airport not far away, which helps get people in and out for some of these companies.”

But readily available land and padready land are the key pieces. Scott said Emporia has been exceptional in facilitating this aspect. Just show up and let the process complete itself.

“We continue to work to make it as readily available and as shovel-ready or pad-ready … Everything’s sitting right at the property line, and all they got to do is have their site plan and go through the normal permitting process,” Scott said. “But everything is ready for them to go if they decide to come locate here.”

And there is plenty of Emporia acreage that’s good to go. Three parks are already offering land.

“What we call Park Three,” Scott said. “So that’s out around the Simmons and Hills area. That’s all shovelready. So it’s ready to build today. Park Three just south of there is close. We’ve got some additional work to be done with some roads … then we’ve also got a sewer extension … and then leveling out some of the rollingness of that property.”

It appears the region’s economic development climate is trending warm and sunny, and the forecast is agreeable.

“So Park Three is close, and that’ll be the emphasis in ’23, is getting it completely shovel-ready,” Scott said. “And then we’ve got to continue to work out on Park four, which is the one out on Highway 50, to get it more ready… So they’re all in various stages, which is what you want to have. So when you get one ready to go and you start to fill it up, then you can slowly work on the other parks.”