Total foreign investment in a variety of facility construction projects based in rural parts of the U.S. has passed the $56 million point.
That figure is part of a new report published by the Commerce Department called Foreign Investment in the Rural United States, noting that the three countries with the largest such investments are Japan, Germany, and Canada. Combined, in fact, those three countries make up nearly 50 percent of investments in rural America. Such investments, from private companies, have been primarily in food production, automotive equipment, and textile facilities, as well as alternative and renewable energy enterprises. The report also indicates that such investment has been strongest in the West, including parts of northwest New Mexico, southwest Colorado, and southeastern Arizona, with investment dollars going for land acquisition and the building of manufacturing facilities and infrastructure. Among the largest foreign company investment projects are the $340 million Hondo auto components plant in Anna, Ohio, a town of 1,500 people; and the $90 million Latvian-based Valmiera Glass fiberglass facility in Dublin, Georgia, a city of 16,000 residents. The Italian-based Enel Green Power has invested $160 million in a windfarm in the Kansas counties of Marion and Dickinson, which combined have a population of 31,000. The report notes that the average non-rural facility investment project is around $64 million, creating just under 90 jobs: “In rural areas where the population is smaller than that of an urban area, the impact of the jobs created numbers is likely to be even more strongly felt.” The report, released by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross during a USA Investment Summit in Washington, added that while foreign investment in rural parts of the U.S. is currently a small subset of the total foreign dollars in the country, it nevertheless “plays an important role in our economy, especially at the local level.” By Garry Boulard
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A project whose goal is to put back into action the Pikes Peak Cog Railway in Colorado may see the beginning of work late this summer. The railway, inaugurated in 1881, was put out of commission earlier this year after it was determined that the tracks taking it from downtown Manitou Springs to the equally legendary Summit House at the top of Pikes Peak were in need of extensive repairs. Now, members of the Manitou Springs City Council have preliminarily agreed to reduce the excise taxes the city charges for tickets on the train, a measure that will save the Oklahoma Publishing Company, owner of the train, up to $500,000 a year. The council also voted in favor of eliminating some $1.1 million in city capital investment taxes for the project. Efforts to launch a track upgrading and replacement for the railway have been fueled by the schedule for the $50 million construction of the new Summit House, which is expected to be completed by the spring of 2020. The railway rebuilding will not only include the laying of new tracks, but could also result in the demolition of the Manitou Springs depot, along with the construction of a replacement facility. The train route between that depot to the summit is just under 9 miles in length, but due to Pikes Peak’ elevation of 14,000 feet, it is the highest in the country. By Garry Boulard A petition with more than 2,000 signatures has been submitted to the City Clerk’s Office of El Paso asking for an ordinance that would preserve some 5,000 acres of land currently targeted for development.
Last month, members of the El Paso City Council approved the creation of a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone that would open the way for the development of a portion of those acres. Although no specific developer has been identified, the zone designation would allow the City of El Paso to collect tax revenue that could then be used to pay for the construction of sidewalks, streets, sewers, and utility infrastructure within the district. That infrastructure, in turn, would make the district more attractive to outside investment and development. In creating the zone, proponents of the idea said the district could end up being the home to more than 800,000 square feet of commercial space, as well as some 9,400 housing units. Critics of what is officially known as the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone Number 12 say the development could prove environmentally damaging, particularly to the Lost Dog Trailhead, the beginning point of a series of trails used by residents and visitors for walking and biking. By Garry Boulard infrastructure projects promoting funding partnerships announced by the department of transportation6/25/2018 Just over two dozen infrastructure projects nationally are in line to receive a cumulative total of $1.5 billion in funding through the federal Department of Transportation.
That money is coming out of the department’s Infrastructure for Rebuilding America discretionary grant program, which was announced last summer and is intended to provide backing in a collaborative fashion with local and tribal governments, as well as port authorities and federal land management agencies, for infrastructure projects. Such grants, said Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao in announcing the specifically funded projects, “empower states and communities to make significant longterm infrastructure improvements that will shape transportation and mobility for decades to come.” A large portion of the grant-funded projects this year are located in the Midwest and South, but two are in Colorado: the widening of an 18-mile segment of Interstate 25, and the addition of a 12-mile shoulder lane on Interstate 70. An Infrastructure for Rebuilding America grant of $65 million will help pay for the building of new express I-25 lanes going in each direction. The project, upon completion, will have a price tag of around $350 million, funded by a variety of sources. The new lanes will be built between the north to south route connecting the cities of Castle Rock and Monument. Transportation officials in Colorado have said that the new lanes are needed to help accommodate an increased number of vehicles in recent decades, reflecting the area’s explosive population growth. The 12-mile shoulder lane project going through Idaho Springs, some 30 miles to the west of Denver, is receiving $25 million in federal funding for a project whose total costs will exceed $80 million. By Garry Boulard At a place where the number of resident animals is now above the 3,000 mark, the need for veterinary care is a constant. Now officials at the Denver Zoo in downtown Denver have received a green light for the construction of a new two-story animal hospital that will feature the latest in technological advances and provide treatment for everything from the tiny Panamanian Golden Frog to the very large Asian Elephant. The building will replace an animal hospital built in 1969 which zoo officials say is too small for current modern veterinary needs. As planned, the new facility will feature treatment rooms, critical care units, a surgery suite, laboratory, and pharmacy. The attractively designed structure will also house a host of digital radiography equipment, ultrasonography, endoscopy units, and advanced anesthesia monitoring. From the earlier days of putting together the zoo’s larger master plan, an emphasis has also been placed on the creation of science labs at the new hospital, which will allow middle and high school students, as well as university students, to get an up-close view of animal treatment and care. Funding for the new $10 million hospital is coming out of the first round of the $937 million general obligation bonds approved by Denver voters last year. Founded in 1896, the 80-acre Denver Zoo is one of the oldest and most highly-rated zoos in the country. By Garry Boulard The numbers reached during the summer of 2007 represented the highpoint of pre-Great Recession good times in Colorado. Statewide construction employment had notched up to 170,000. And the jobs were in everything from transportation and office building to residential construction. The onset of the Great Recession, however, hit the Mile High State as hard as it did its neighbors: by May of 2011, construction employment had shrunk to 112,000. But this year, notes Ryan Gedney, a senior economist with the Colorado Department of Labor, the state’s construction employment has surpassed that 170,000 benchmark after more than 5 years of steady growth. “In fact, construction has been one of Colorado’s strongest growing industry sectors, probably since 2012 or 2013,” says Gedney, noting that the job growth in just the last year alone, from May of 2017 to May of this year, has jumped from 161,900 to 171,600. “That’s an increase of 9,700 jobs over the year,” reports Gedney, “and a growth rate of about 6 percent.” The numbers are strong everywhere, in all segments of the state’s construction industry, reflecting something even larger: a Colorado economic boom of unprecedented proportions. The boom is so big, noted legislative economist Greg Sobetski in recent testimony before the State Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee, that one longtime trend in the state continues unabated: people from all points east, north, south, and west continue to pour into Colorado to find work. And most of them do. “That means more money for households,” said Sobetski. “That also means, coupled with a tight labor market, that there’s more money that’s being demanded by these laborers, and personal income is increasing as well.” Colorado’s numbers, which include a median household income of $65,600, higher than the national average of $57,600, have been impressive enough to prompt U.S. News & World Report earlier this year to classify the state as having the greatest economic growth in the nation. Known for its vast Great Plains and majestic Rockies, Colorado, with a population that has robustly jumped from 5 million in 2010 to more than 5.6 million last year, has, in fact, always attracted outsiders moving in to become a part of the state’s thriving technological, biosciences, and higher education sectors. The U.S. News & World Report also noted another reason for the ongoing influx: healthy living. “The population in Colorado is among the healthiest in the nation,” said the magazine, noting that such standards of living are undoubtedly encouraged by the state’s “outdoor activities, physical beauty, and mild climate.” But despite Colorado’s upward trajectory, there are still parts of the state that remain economically challenged. “There is a divide here between the small and rural towns and the metro areas, as there is across the country,” says Jeff Kraft, the director of business funding and incentives for the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. “The smaller towns have been struggling to come out of the Great Recession,” continues Kraft, “while the metro areas have continued to see a disproportionate number of new businesses and start-ups.” In an effort to bridge this divide, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper earlier this spring signed into law legislation providing $100 million in grants for rural high-speed internet infrastructure, noting of that infrastructure: “You really can’t have a discussion about economic development unless you have that.” The state also has up and running what is called the Rural Economic Development Initiative, a program geared for counties with less than 50,000 people and communities with less than 20,000 people. In the last year, that program has funded development, infrastructure, planning, and market assessment programs in such small towns as Lamar, Kiowa, Severance, and Trinidad. “We’re seeing interesting entrepreneurial activities starting to take root in these smaller communities throughout Colorado,” says Kraft. Such activities, adds Kraft, is one of the reasons why last fall the OEDIT announced it was partnering with the Colorado Venture Capital Authority to allocate up to $9 million for a new investment fund designed to provide seed and early-stage investment backing to rural businesses. Meanwhile, as Colorado’s smaller communities are beginning to embrace entrepreneurial change, the state’s metro areas continue to drive the economic engine, notes Gedney. “If you just look at downtown Denver, there are construction projects everywhere,” he says. “Non-residential and multi-family construction is particularly strong there, as it is right now in all of our metro areas.” And as more people continue to move into Colorado, Gedney adds, “the demand for new home construction is only going to increase.” By Garry Boulard With the number of Catholic residents in El Paso increasing, particularly on an east side fueled by new home construction and the expansion of nearby Fort Bliss, plans are in the talking stage for the building of a new church.
In a video released by the Catholic Diocese of El Paso, Bishop Mark Seitz said diocese officials have “for a long time witnessed the incredible growth” of east El Paso. A new church designed to accommodate that growth, Seitaz added, would most likely go up east of the Joe Battle Boulevard and the Texas Loop 375, around 15 miles to the east of downtown El Paso. Neither an exact site for the new church, nor a construction timetable has yet been announced. If the diocese proceeds with the project, it will be the first new Catholic church built in metropolitan El Paso in more than two decades. Covering some 27,000 square miles, the Diocese of El Paso currently has 55 churches over a span of ten counties. According to Diocese figures, there are currently just under around 450,000 Catholics in El Paso. By Garry Boulard The Trump Administration’s decision earlier this year to raise the tariff on lumber imported from Canada is beginning to have a negative impact on the home building industry.
So says Randy Noel, the chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, who, with a group of home builders, recently met with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to discuss the issue. In a statement after the meeting, Noel said he noted that “lumber prices have risen sharply higher than the tariff rate would indicate, and that this is hurting housing affordability in markets across the nation.” Noel said that lumber cost increases are adding $3,000 to the price of the average multi-family unit, and $9,000 to the average single-family home. Noel urged Ross to re-start negotiations with Canadian trade officials in the hope of finding a “longterm solution to this trade dispute that will ensure U.S. home builders have access to a staple supply of lumber at reasonable prices to keep housing affordable for hard-working American families.” The tariff issue, say industry analysts, is particularly crucial for U.S. builders for the simple reason that Canadian imports make up some 28 percent of all lumber sales in this country. In April, Ross predicted to reporters that although the increased tariff would increase the price of lumber, the overall impact would be minimal. “The biggest part of most home prices in any event is the land value, not the lumber value,” commented Ross, who said that the tariff increase was in response to the Canadians violating “legitimate practice.” Ross added: “To the extent we can correct that, it should be corrected.” By Garry Boulard An updated school project partly, funded by a bond approved by a two-vote margin, will soon see work in the northeast Colorado town of Hayden. Officials with the Hayden School District have long been planning to extensively modernize the current Hayden Valley Elementary School. In the process, the district will demolish a middle school built in 1947, and a high school that went up in 1977. As proposed, the updating of the elementary school, which will house pre-kindergarten to 12th grade students, will cost $61 million to build. The work will also see a complete replacement of the school’s plumbing, mechanical, and electrical systems. Some $22 million of the total $61 million is coming from a 2016 bond which, in an improbably close election, was approved by a vote of 431 to 429. District officials subsequently sought state matching funds for the project, only to see that request turned down last year by the Colorado State Board of Education. But the district’s chances for getting funding through the state’s Building Excellent Schools Today program were practically guaranteed when state officials listed the project as a front-runner for money this year. Now the Education Board has awarded the Hayden District $38 million to build the new school. The BEST funding for the Hayden district represents the largest dollar amount the program is awarding this year. Work is expected to begin on the upgrading project in the summer of 2019 with a completion date of fall 2020. By Garry Boulard A rapidly-expanding microbrewery based in Centennial, Colorado has announced plans to build a new location in Albuquerque.
Growler USA says plans are being worked out for a site in the vicinity of the Albuquerque International Sunport that will open in late 2019. This will be the company’s second Albuquerque site. Growler USA is currently working on opening a new location at the intersection of Unser Boulevard and La Morada Place on the northwest side of the city. Formed in 2014, Growler USA specializes in American-produced craft beers, and has enjoyed a rapid expansion with nearly two dozen locations in operation today. The company is currently working on new sites in Houston, St. Louis, and Tucson. Growler USA usually spends an average of anywhere from $500,000 to $900,000 building locations that typically vary in size between 2,500 and 3,500 square feet. By Garry Boulard |
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