BALDWIN COUNTY, ALABAMA eDEVELOPMENTS

A Publication of the Baldwin County
Economic Development Alliance

Welcome to the Alliance eNewsletter
July 2006

The Directors, Officers and Staff of the BCEDA appreciate your support and are proud to provide you with highlights of our 2006, second quarter efforts.

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It will probably be July of 2007 before a final decision is made concerning the contractor or contractors that will be chosen to produce the Refueling Tanker.  If Northrup Grumman and EADS are chosen, up to twenty suppliers are expected to build facilities in a close proximity. 

Job growth in Baldwin County has been nothing short of spectacular in recent years – and this trend is clearly continuing: We have over 3 million square feet of new retail space in malls opening this year and next that will generate over 12,000 new retail-related jobs. We also have the largest number of new condos and hotel rooms in our history entering tourism service this year and next that are expected to generate another 3,600 jobs. We also have strong growth in the healthcare, manufacturing, construction, distribution, and most other business sectors.

This growth provides a number of opportunities in recruiting, housing, and overall growth planning:

Affordable Housing for our Workforce

Bob Higgins has been co-chairing a Baldwin County Commission task force on Affordable Housing for the last six months.  According to the task force, we have a shortage in single family homes between $90,000 and $150,000 and in apartments renting for under $700 per month. The recommendations focus on ways the that the public sector can partner with private developers and non-profits to build a large number of desirable properties in these price ranges as quickly as possible: (1) Establish a Baldwin Housing Development Alliance and a related Housing Fund; (2) Develop an overlay district for affordable housing that would apply both in the municipalities and in unincorporated areas; and (c) Establish “fast track” process for housing. The Commission approved these recommendations at its June 20, 2006 meeting and the emphasis will shift to implementing these proposals as quickly as possible.

Recruiting

While Baldwin may be in the top 100 counties in the country for population growth, our jobs are growing faster than our workforce population is growing. The Alliance is being very proactive in working with employers to improve the workforce situation. The job fair in Daphne last month was an example of an initial effort to begin advertising in other markets in an effort to convince people to move their families to Baldwin to fill some of these jobs. While the job fair was a success, we have learned that we need to significantly scale up this activity. More to come in future newsletters!

The new federal GO Zone Act provides a number of significant economic incentives to create jobs and housing in our area. GO Zone bonds can provide a lower interest rate than conventional bank financing, accelerated depreciation allows 50% of the investment to be “written off” in the first year, and the federal guidelines for tax credit financing of low income housing have been made more liberal. Call Bob Higgins at the Alliance for more details.

David D. Swift of Swift Supply, Inc., along with Alabama Governor Bob Riley, Foley Mayor Tim Russell and Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance Vice President Bob Higgins, announced Swift’s plans to construct a new state-of-the-art 40,000 sq. ft. roof truss manufacturing facility and employ at least 45 people within three years.  The Company will invest over $2,700,000 on a 23-acre site located at Barin Field about one mile south of U. S. Highway 98 adjacent to the Foley Beach Express.  Annual payroll is projected to be over $1,455,000 by the end of the third year of the operation.

The Swift family has been a part of Alabama history since the early 19^th century. They have been in the sawmill and timber business in what is now the Florida panhandle and southern Alabama since 1835. The family moved to Bon Secour in 1900 to form Swift and Lyons Sawmill. By 1906, the name was changed to Swift and Son. After a series of changes over the last century, it has evolved into two companies: The Swift Lumber Company and Swift Supply, Inc. The latter operates the truss manufacturing business and their chain of building center stores.

David Swift talked about the tremendous growth in the housing industry along the Gulf Coast and the need to have this new plant in operation as soon as possible. He expressed his thanks to the Mayor, the City Council, the Alliance, and the Industrial Development Board for their warm welcome and help with this project.

“I can’t think of a more appropriate place for an Alabama business that is involved in the construction industry to expand than right here,” said Governor Riley. “With over $6 billion of new construction underway in south Baldwin County – and the reconstruction of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, I’m confident that this business is in the right place at the right time.”

The City of Fairhope and the Fairhope Airport Authority dedicated the new 6600’ runway at the H. L. “Sonny” Callahan Airport on Saturday, May 20^th with an Open House and Fly-In.  Gov. Bob Riley was in attendance for the runway dedication ceremony that included a ribbon cutting.  The runway improvements will help Fairhope and Baldwin County attract corporate partners and businesses.  The Fairhope Festival of Flight included Bi-Plane rides, sky divers, warbird formation flights, aerobatic aircraft demonstration, helicopter demonstration and radio controlled airplane demonstration.  There were aircraft available to the public for viewing and aviation related exhibits set up.  The crowd was estimated to be around 7,500. 

In conjunction with this aviation event, the Alliance worked with the City of Fairhope, the Fairhope Industrial Development Board, the Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce and the Fairhope Airport Authority to host a group of Alabama economic development partners and prospective companies for a familiarization tour of Baldwin County.  We had representatives from the State of Alabama Development Office, Alabama Industrial Development Training, Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs and Alabama Municipal Electric Authority (AMEA), in addition to prospects with which the Alliance has been working.  AMEA provided a portion of the funds for this weekend.

The focus of the weekend was to familiarize the partners with Baldwin County and update them on what we have to offer in our communities and with the sites related to aviation prospects.   It also allowed the companies an opportunity to network with Alabama agency representatives who will be helping in our recruiting process.  We conducted a bus tour of the community and of several potential aviation related sites.  Saturday everyone enjoyed the Festival of Flight activities and the prospects met Gov. Riley and other Alabama elected officials.

                                         

The Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance (BCEDA) along with the Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce, North Baldwin Chamber of Commerce, Central Baldwin Chamber of Commerce, South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce, Alabama Gulf Coast Area Chamber of Commerce, Baldwin County Society of Human Resource Managers and South Alabama Regional Planning Commission (SARPC) hosted the Baldwin County Job Fair on May 25^th at the Daphne Civic Center.

With a total of 313 job seekers attending from Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, and Alabama we feel it was a HUGE success!  In exit interviews with Job Seekers, we received many positive comments along with recommendations for future events.

There were 56 companies in attendance.  They were asked to fill out a survey after the job fair.  Based on the ones we received, employers are indicating that an event such as this should occur every six months.  Other preliminary responses indicated an average of 43 job seekers visited individual employer’s booths with an average of 22 resumes accepted by the employers.  We appreciate all of the comments and will be meeting with the Chambers of Commerce to discuss a future Job Fair date. 

The 80,000 square ft. facility will be located at 30256 County Rd. 49 in Loxley.  The start of the construction of this facility is the final step of a three year planning project which will propel Equipment Sales well in to the future in its ability to serve its customers and meet mutual growth opportunities. This facility will feature state of the art distribution tools such as Total Warehouse Logistics (TWL) software to facilitate speed and accuracy in loading and unloading trucks. 

“Our employees are excited to be part of a project that sets them out as a leader among competition and challenges them to be the best in the industry,” noted Equipment Sales Corporation owner Frank Raue, Jr.  “We are particularly proud to be a part of a growing community in Baldwin County and the Town of Loxley and look forward to our first day of operation.”

About Equipment Sales Corporation – With over 71 years of experience, Equipment Sales Corporation is one of the leading distributors of quality heating, air conditioning and refrigeration equipment through Alabama, Florida and Mississippi.  Equipment Sales understands that each client has individual needs and has prided itself on delivering the highest quality and best value to their customers.  For more information, visit http://escdist.com or call 800-239-7418.