ICAD Group's Shovel Ready Site Program First of its Kind in Iowa

Learn More at www.icadgroup.com/shovelready

Josh O'Leary Iowa City Press-Citizen

Where 175 acres of farmland now sit on the city's southeast corner, Iowa City's economic leaders have visions of an industrial park that will one day serve as a manufacturing hub for wind energy businesses.

To get there, the city has partnered with the Iowa City Area Development Group and its newly designed Shovel Ready Sites Program -- the first of its kind in Iowa -- with the hopes of luring high-caliber companies and, with them, new jobs.

ICAD this spring rolled out the shovel-ready program, which it developed with the help of two consulting firms to eliminate the obstacles that might prevent companies from setting up shop in the Iowa City region. It selected Iowa City's Wind Energy Supply Chain Campus, a yet-to-be developed industrial park on 420th Street, as one of three pilot projects.

The program is designed to streamline the site selection process for businesses that are eying a new facility in the area by having a third-party firm certify a developer's land as ready-to-build, ensuring that all aspects critical to breaking ground are squared away. That includes utilities, zoning, mapping the site, environmental protections and other facets of development.

Joe Raso, ICAD president, says the new program could save companies weeks, if not months, of work in the site-selection process by having all of the information in place for them at the onset.

"We as an organization see all too often companies with an interest in our market but not being able to move forward with projects because we didn't have the property that's ready to go in the timeframe the company needs," Raso said. "And because interstate commerce businesses have the option of locating not just in one market, but they can locate in one of many areas to serve their needs, that's where the competitive aspect of this comes in."

The shovel-ready program will be a key element in marketing the Wind Energy Supply Chain Campus to prospective companies, local leaders say.

The city began eying the site -- the 173-acre Bonnie Prybil estate just off Highway 6 -- in late 2008. With two major players in the wind industry in the area, Acciona Energy North America Corp. in West Branch and Clipper Wind Power in Cedar Rapids, the idea was to establish a park to attract domestic suppliers for the nearby companies.

The city purchased the land for $2.4 million last year, and work is set to get under way later this summer to extend the city's infrastructure -- road, water and sanitary sewer -- to the site. The cost of the infrastructure project was initially estimated at $6 million, but Planning and Community Development Director Jeff Davidson says bids, which will be put out in the coming weeks, have been coming in lower recently on city projects.

Work on the infrastructure of the industrial park itself will begin next spring, and when the platting is completed, the marketing of the site's individual lots can be put into motion, Davidson said.

"Hopefully we'll have some companies that are ready to locate by then," Davidson said.

The 420th Street site marks the first time the city has established an industrial park on its own, Davidson said. It has partnered with private groups for past projects on the southeast side, including the development nearly 50 years ago of the Industrial Road area, and in recent decades, industrial parks in the Heinz Road area and at the Scott Boulevard/Highway 6 intersection.

Although the city, with ICAD operating as its marketing arm, hopes to attract companies specifically in the wind energy sector to the new park, Davidson said it will keep its options open.

"If we get another Oral B labs or a Procter & Gamble plant, we're going to talk to them," Davidson said. "We want anybody who is a good, quality employer."

Wendy Ford, Iowa City's economic development coordinator, said the city has been in contact with many companies -- often anonymously through the Iowa Department of Economic Development -- that have shown interest in the wind park. She said having the shovel-ready program in place will be an asset.

"That's another reason why it's good to be ready with the site certification because so often the inquiries come in blind, and we'd like to put our best foot forward and say, 'Hey, you don't have to do any of this work,'" Ford said.

Raso said that last year, nearly 80 percent of the time ICAD spent with clients was related to the wind energy industry. He said no companies have signed on yet for the Iowa City site, but he said announcements possibly could be made next year.

The state might soon follow ICAD's lead with its own shovel-ready certification program, which a dozen or so other states already have in place, including Minnesota and Missouri. Raso said state legislation has been approved to move forward on the idea, and he is hopeful the state can implement a system much like ICAD's.

In addition to 420th Street, the other shovel-ready pilot projects are the University of Iowa Research Park in northwest Coralville and Tipton's industrial park. The program also will be available to private developers and landowners.

"What we're trying to do in all of the work we do is really to reduce the risk associated with companies making decisions to grow in this market or locate here," Raso said.