Airport site positioned to be Iowa’s first “Super Park”

By Dave DeWitte

dave@corridorbusiness.com

The first industrial park to be designated a “Super Park” under the Iowa Certified Sites program is expected to be named this summer at the Eastern Iowa Airport, positioning the Corridor to land some new, fast-moving projects that need plenty of land.

The Iowa Certified Sites designation will essentially confirm for developers that most of the streets and utilities needed to develop the site are already in place, and that there won’t be any surprises, such as unidentified wetlands or environmental contamination, to throw a project off timetable.

The Super Park is one category of certified site, requiring more than 500 acres to qualify.

To be a Super Park, a site must meet eight criteria in all, including the ability to provide 1 million gallons of water per day and 32,500 million cubic feet of natural gas per month within nine months, immediate access to rail and a location within five miles of an interstate highway.

“This will be the state’s first Super Park site, providing 700 acres of development-ready land that has convenient access to the airport, rail and Interstate 380,” said Dee Baird, president of the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance. “Companies looking to build new facilities are searching for sites that are not only suitable for development, but are also relatively risk-free.”

The airport and the Economic Alliance are working with the engineering firm Forth to submit an application for the site. The state pays a private consultant, McCallum-Sweeney, to certify sites at state expense.

Tina Hoffman, marketing and communications director with the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA), said the Iowa Certified Sites designation is “like a Good Housekeeping seal” that the site is ready for development. She said the program responds to an emerging trend in economic development.

“We are finding site selectors are looking for sites where they can get in quick, put the projects together and get out,” Ms. Hoffman said. “The project timetable is much more condensed than it has been in the past.”

The IEDA expects to announce several Iowa Certified Sites in the next several months, Ms. Hoffman said, but the authority isn’t revealing any particulars yet.

The Iowa Transportation Commission, during a recent review of economic development incentive programs, discussed raising incentive levels for grants awarded to pay for roadway improvements under its RISE (Revitalize Iowa’s Sound Economy) program if the roadway leads to a Super Park. The proposal was based on the expectation that roadway improvements provide more public benefit if they serve a larger industrial park. No decision has yet been made on adjusting the incentives.

The Eastern Iowa Airport is also in the final steps of applying for a foreign trade zone designation, according to Airport Director Marty Lenss. The designation will enable manufacturing or distribution businesses to delay or eliminate duty payments on items imported from other countries, along with other benefits. For large operations, it could mean millions of dollars in annual savings.

Mr. Lenss said the capacity of the development and its connection to important rail, air and land transportation infrastructure will be the biggest draw, however.

“There are certain projects in the economic development area specific to this scale of development,” Mr. Lenss said.

None of the four initial Iowa Certified Sites announced by Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds last April are in the Corridor. They are the 447-acre Webster County Ag Center site in Fort Dodge, the 288-acre Van Meter Vision Park in Van Meter, the 255-acre Metro West Rail Interstate and Rail Park in Dexter, and the 246-acre Iowa Falls/Hardin County Industrial Park in Iowa Falls.

The Economic Alliance and the airport will work together to ensure the information about the site advantages of the airport’s Super Park gets out to siting consultants and businesses, Ms. Baird said.

“It will be another tool in the economic development toolbox of the Corridor we can jointly promote,” Mr. Lenss said.