INDUSTRIAL GROWTH WORKS BEST THROUGH STRONG PARTNERSHIP

When VisionAire Corp. announced it had picked Ames, Iowa, as the site for a plant to produce a new single-engine business jet, there was some disappointment in Cape Girardeau, where city and industrial development officials had been working to attract the plant. Cape Girardeau made it down to the wire as a finalist, but in the end it was a matter of which community would put up the most money up front.

While new jobs and new industry are always a goal of a growing and thriving community, there should be no lingering disappointment over VisionAire's choice to go to Iowa. Investors in Ames committed some $2.4 million to the project -- the company had sought $2.7 million -- whereas investors here pegged only about $200,000.

But this was an unusual pitch from the start. Usually when new industry looks at a community as a potential plant site, things like work force, wage rates, training and education facilities, utilities, tax incentives and transportation access are major considerations. All of those figured into the VisionAire site search too, but the focus kept coming back to money.

The up-front money sought by VisionAire could give some savvy investors a healthy return in future years. But those same investors could lose everything. VisionAire is looking for a site to build an airplane that is still in the research and development stage. It hasn't flown. It hasn't been certified by the Federal Aviation Administration. And it has a lot of competitors.

A low-cost business jet is the vision of several companies who are rushing into the marketplace. VisionAire may have the best plan -- it has the man who piloted an airplane around the world nonstop on its team -- but the risk is enormous.

Typically, when communities launch an all-out effort to attract new industry, it is because there are benefits both for the community and the new industry. In this case, it seems the only guaranteed benefit belonged to VisionAire through the capital it would secure from local investors.

There is nothing wrong with VisionAire's approach. Clearly, someone in Ames thought enough of the plan to put up the money in hopes of getting it back -- and then some -- down the road. But investors here demonstrated a healthy dose of Missouri's Show Me attitude.