-New plant in Lake Manawa Industrial Park
-205,000 sq feet
-On schedule to finish in December
-Will add 110 employees bringing total to 400
-Multiple tax incentives, incl. from Iowa Values Fund totaling
at estimated $1.5 million
-$1.65 million from Iowa West Foundation used by city to buy
Omaha Standard's existing buildings (no word on what building will be used for, if retained)
Rendering, nothing spectacular with it's precast concrete walls, but the big news here is more manufacturing jobs in the metro
An incredible example of the use of multiple financing options to put together a project! Impressive. And it is manufacturing jobs. A segment the metro is weak on. Good job, CB and Iowa!
I was very disappointed several years ago when the City allowed Omaha Standard to expand their West Broadway facility, rather than actively seeking a new site then, but better late than never!
Been by the new site a few times this summer, looks like it's coming along nicely. The numbers in this new OWH story don't quite match what was talked about last year in a different OWH article:
but I am really looking forward to seeing their facility on West Broadway come down. Hopefully we'll see something more exciting than the two new mini-plazas under construction further east on Broadway.
Daily Nonpareil wrote:. . .The council gave the green light for the Pottawattamie County Development Corp. to seek acquisition of four properties west of the current Omaha Standard plant on West Broadway. The PCDC has already secured a purchase option on the plant and is scheduled to close the deal later this year or early 2006. Omaha Standard is moving to a new location.
The other four properties west of there, including a car wash and the Harmon Glass facility, will expand the potential for new retail development there, said Matt Buchanan, vice president of economic development for the Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce.
Sounds like something is already in the wings for the old Omaha Standard blocks - these guys never move this fast unless they already have someone seriously interested.....
"Standard" hardly seems to be the right word for a $23 million project.
Omaha Standard, the long-time maker of truck service bodies and hydraulics founded in 1926 and owned since the 1960s by the Moser family, is in the process of completing its move from three buildings on West Broadway to a state-of-the-art, 190,000-square-foot building on the corner of South 11th Street and 35th Avenue.[/i]
The financing package included local assistance from the Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce, the Iowa West Foundation, and Pottawattamie County Development Corporation in assembling the project. The Iowa Values Fund helped with financing through a combination of forgivable and unforgivable loans.
The federal government provided support through a new markets tax credit program with Omaha Standard, Omaha's First National Bank and the U.S. Treasury. Most of the borrowed money is the responsibility of Omaha Standard.
"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."
After 46 years of ownership by a local family, Omaha Standard will soon have overseas owners.
Company officials have signed an agreement to sell the truck-body company to the Palfinger Group, a truck-equipment manufacturer based in Austria. When the deal is closed on Oct. 31, Omaha Standard will become a subsidiary of Palfinger but will retain its current name. . . .
Palfinger plans to keep the Council Bluffs plant in motion, he said.
"Palfinger has been looking for a long time to find a platform for manufacturing operations in the U.S.," he said. "They will only have one person on site. Everybody else - management staff and employees - will remain."
Palfinger is one of the world's leading manufacturers of hydraulic lifting, loading and handling systems installed on commercial trucks, a press release from Omaha Standard stated. The multinational group, headquartered in Salzburg, Austria, has more than 5,000 employees and generated sales of approximately $1 billion in 2007. . . .
Said Moser, "In addition to continuing to build the current family of products that Omaha Standard builds and distributes, they would manufacture some of the products they have been building in Europe. Within two or three months, we will start making truck-mounted hydraulic liftgates. We presently make Eagle liftgates. They're for smaller trucks, and the ones we would be adding would be for larger capacity, larger trucks." . . . .
"The ongoing financial and economic crisis in North America has prevented necessary capacity utilization from being achieved thus far. For this reason, both companies stand to profit from this acquisition. Omaha Standard ideally complements the previous operations of Palfinger in this market - in terms of both product portfolio and production and distribution capacities. As a result, new distribution channels are now available to Omaha Standard; and there is, of course, more potential for utilization of capacities," added Kaml. . . .
"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."
Not quite as exciting as the headline may make one to believe, but....
A Council Bluffs company that builds truck bodies and related equipment is moving forward with expansion.
Omaha Standard Palfinger, 3501 S. 11th St., is building a logistical center south of its headquarters to move inbound and outbound materials and products more efficiently, a spokesman said. . . .
"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."
