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Site Selection Magazine: Momentum in Missouri

  • July 31, 2018

Momentum has a way of capitalizing on itself.

If America needed an example of what can happen when a state overhauls its business climate and makes it friendlier to growing firms, it received that lesson in a big way in early March. And that lesson came from Missouri, according to a new article by Site Selection Magazine.

In less than a week, four companies selected Missouri for major corporate facility investments, bringing $350 million in capital and about 2,300 jobs to the state.

Amazon got the ball rolling March 7 by announcing it will invest $175 million into creating an 855,080-square-foot fulfillment center in St. Peters and hiring more than 1,500 full-time workers. Grove Collaborative followed suit by committing $3.7 million to establish another fulfillment center in St. Peters, this one employing 210 people.

That same week, Nestle announced it was purchasing production capabilities from ConAgra Foods, investing $55.2 million and adding 135 jobs at a plant in Trenton. The week ended Friday, March 9, with Magnitude 7 Metals announcing it will reopen an aluminum smelter plant in Marston in the Boot Heel tip of Southwest Missouri, adding 450 jobs as part of a $117-million capital investment.

For Rob Dixon, director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development, the record-breaking week was more about the culmination of a year of hard work than it was the sudden burst in economic activity.

“We’ve been building our momentum all of last year,” he said. “The tough decisions, the work we’ve done to improve our regulatory and tax environment, our work on workforce development, it’s paying off. Tort reform, tax reform, innovation support, worker training — it’s about helping the private sector create jobs. In a nutshell, what we’re doing is working.”

Check out the full article from Site Selection Magazine here.

For more information on why Missouri could be a prime location to launch or grow your business, contact Steve Johnson, CEO of Missouri Partnership, at 314.725.2688 or via our contact form, with any questions you might have, and learn how Missouri Partnership can help with your business expansion needs.

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