MAGNET pulls business to Southeast Missouri

For Mitch Robinson, it's all about the draw -- whether it's luring a new manufacturer into the area, helping businesses leap the hurdles of bureaucracy or assisting site-selection teams in finding the best spot for relocation.

"We're about attraction," Robinson said. "Everybody understands what a magnet is all about."

The executive director of the Cape Girardeau Area MAGNET on Thursday outlined some of the accomplishments that the business and industry recruiting organization had a hand in over the last 12 months.

MAGNET held its annual meeting and luncheon Thursday -- the first since it adopted the new name in September -- with 52 business and community leaders in attendance.

Recent successes Robinson mentioned included the new 20,000-square-foot nature center at Cape Girardeau County Park, Procter & Gamble's $200 million upgrade, Jackson Machine & Manufacturing doubling the size of its facility and the construction of Kohl's and Sears Grand.

"We hope that 2005 is every bit as good as 2004," Robinson said.

But after the meeting, Robinson agreed that not everything was rosy last year.

He said that the developer of a proposed ethanol plant in Cape Girardeau still hadn't secured financing for his venture, a year after the project was endorsed by the Cape Girardeau County Industrial Development Authority.

The development authority's action gave developer Phil Danforth of Leawood, Kan., legal permission to have a financial firm market $250 million in industrial bonds to investors to finance construction of a 40-million-gallon-a-year etha-nol plant and a related 15-megawatt pow-er plant on land in the Nash Road industrial park.

"They've gotten some funding but not all of it," Robinson said. "At this point, it's not a done deal, but I still think it's going to happen."

Also, Renaissance Aircraft abandoned its plans to build airplanes in Cape Girardeau in 2004, ending a three-year business venture that was plagued by litigation and a lack of investors.

"That was a real disappointment," Robinson said. "It was a situation where the lawsuits destroyed their ability to function for an extended period of time. That made it impossible for them to get going."

But at least there wasn't a situation like 2003, when the Cape Girardeau area narrowly lost on its bid to become the new home of a company called Trex, which decided to build its manufacturing plant for the nation's largest producer of synthetic decking elsewhere, taking the potential for hundreds of jobs with it.

"In the past year, we didn't have anything where we were neck and neck," Robinson said. "This year, we're working on some things, so we'll see how it goes."

Preparing for business

Formed in 1992, the not-for-profit economic development agency works with new, expanding and relocating companies who are considering a location in Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Scott City or Cape Girardeau County.

Robinson and executive assistant Karen Kincy oversee several services, including preparing project proposals for new business, coordinating community visits and property tours for site selection teams, and giving interested companies information on labor force availability, taxes, energy costs, financing and job training programs.

In September, the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association changed its name to MAGNET.

"The industrial recruitment name has always been pretty long," Robinson said. "Over time, we have done things, in terms of retail projects and most recently working on transportation issues, that the industrial recruitment association name was not reflecting everything we were involved with."

Still, the biggest part of what MAGNET does is industrial development work.

"Industrial recruitment is still the core of what we do," said Dennis Marchi, the new chairman of MAGNET's board of directors. "But it's not all we do."

But Robinson said he was actively involved in both the Kohl's and Sears projects.

"I worked hand in hand with the city of Cape," he said. "Especially on Sears, we worked with Sears, looking at issues in terms of the site and infrastructure."

Robinson said he served as a liaison between the city and the company, in one case working to move a large ditch out of the way and putting in a culvert.

Robinson said he also is working in support of transportation, which is very important to prospective businesses. He said the big project is the Interstate 66 project. I-66 is a proposed coast-to-coast highway that would provide a faster route between Cape Girardeau and Paducah, Ky.

"Right now, we're waiting on a federal highway bill," he said. "That's a stopping point. We're hoping to see some funding approvals for some study money."

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137