What do economic developers do when they need to get out of the office?

Check out sites, of course!

This summer, the IDM team met with Jeff Kolb of the Butler-Grundy Development Alliance and Rick Whalen with Butler County REC for a tour of the Butler Logistics Park. The Park is located in a rural area two miles west of Shell Rock and is a great example of what strategic collaborations can accomplish. The Park is now shovel ready with room to grow and is already home to several industries, but its development has been a long time in the making and involved a lot of partners along the way. Jeff and Rick shared their story of how partners came to the table at just the right times and with just the right resources to pull all the pieces of the puzzle together.

Their full story has been featured in numerous articles, so this one will not go into the deep details. Rather, the point of this article is to show that in order to have successful economic development – especially in our rural areas – economic developers need to know who their potential partners are, what resources they might offer (both in terms of human capital and financial capital), and then develop relationships with those partners. The partners that were pulled together for the Butler Logistics Park might help you think about whether you have gotten to know all the possible resources available in your service area.

Let us start with utilities. Whether co-op or investor-owned, utilities bring financial assistance, infrastructure and expertise. Jeff’s Butler County Development Corporation worked with Butler County REC and Corn Belt Power to finance a rail spur, install infrastructure and build a spec building in the Park. Rick, with the Butler County REC, actively markets the Park.

In addition to the energy utilities, Central Iowa Water Association installed sewer and water at a discounted cost. Butler-Bremer Communications installed fiber optics at no charge.

Local government is another critical partner. Here, the Butler County Board of Supervisors was proactive in defining the site as an Urban Renewal Area and then able to set up a TIF District for the Park. This enabled the County to take out a bond to add natural gas to the site which will be paid for through TIF. The County also took the lead in providing the matching funds for the Logistics Park Road project and agreed to partner with the utilities to cover payments on the spec building if it did not sell. The City of Shell Rock was also engaged in the development process and stepped up to accept the sewer discharge from the site.

Iowa Northern Railway was another key partner. This Iowa-owned short line rail service had purchased the land adjacent to their terminal already serving the Shell Rock Ethanol Plant. In addition to completing the original spur, they offered the land for the spec building and also actively market the Park.

State and federal governments also played an important role in the Park’s development. The County applied for and received an IDOT RISE (Revitalize Iowa’s Sound Economy) grant to help build a new road into the site. In addition, IEDA’s High Quality Jobs Program was used to assist one of the Park’s businesses. The coop utilities were able to access some of the project’s loans from a pass-through USDA Rural Development fund.

Finally, the Logistics Park was also made possible by informed local landowners and residents who shared a vision for economic development and were willing to sell property for a fair price, adjust to permanent road closures and support local taxpayer investments in the project. The resulting Logistics Park in Butler County is truly a success. With two businesses up and running strong, the Butler-Grundy Development Alliance and its partners are looking toward acquisitions for Phase II of the Park.

“Build it and they will come” is definitely an Iowa ethos, though a more important lesson for developers is to situate yourself and your organization for successful partnerships. Know your local, regional, state and federal public and private partners in development, understand the human and financial assets they can offer, and forge relationships with partners before you need those assets. Share your development vision with them – enthusiasm is catchy!