| Packaging
maker will stay put in St. Louis area
By Eric Heisler of the Post-Dispatch
04/09/2004
Plant incentives help to keep 200
jobs
St. Louis County will use an estimated $2.5 million in tax
breaks to keep a package maker and its more than 200 jobs
in the region.
Lured by the incentives, Packaging Concepts Inc. plans to
build a new plant in Green Park Commerce Center to produce
its specialized popcorn containers and other items. The plant,
which will rise in the small city of Green Park in south St.
Louis County, will replace two operations in the city of St.
Louis. Those plants, on Fyler and South Jefferson avenues,
will be closed.
Packaging Concepts opted to construct the new plant after
it considered leaving the region for sites in Illinois and
Mexico, it said.
Steven J. Anderson, vice president of business development
for the St. Louis County Economic Council, said the company's
decision is a win for people trying to stem the loss of manufacturing
jobs from St. Louis.
"That's 200-plus jobs, and they're relatively decent positions,"
Anderson said. "Those workers would be hard-pressed to find
jobs that paid as well. You could wreck families by letting
them go, and that's something we're trying to avoid." The
incentives will come in the form of property-tax breaks over
15 years. The tax abatement was approved by the St. Louis
County Council last month, and it's being completed, Anderson
said.
Packaging Concepts produces bags for microwave popcorn, containers
for popcorn sold at movie theaters and printed materials for
other packages. The company was founded in 1972 by Joseph
Irace, and it's still owned by the Irace family. The company
moved to St. Louis in 1982.
More recently, the company began seeking new sites to accommodate
continued growth and to cut costs by uniting its two plants
under one roof.
"We've just expanded and outgrown our facilities," said Steve
Snow, the company's senior vice president. "We're going to
continue to grow, and the walls aren't getting any bigger."
Packaging Concepts was offered incentives to move to Arthur,
Ill., near Champaign, where it has an inactive plant. The
company also considered opening a plant in Mexico, he said.
"Illinois worked us pretty hard, and we investigated going
out of the country for manufacturing and just keeping a sales
office here," he said.
Packaging Concepts still needs to complete a financing arrangement
before Clayco Construction Co. can begin building the plant,
which will be 130,000 square feet. The plant will represent
an investment of about $10 million.
The plant initially will house about 215 workers, but it
will have room for continued expansion, Snow said.
As part of its efforts to keep Packaging Concepts in the
region, the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association
estimated that the loss of the plant would have dealt the
region an economic blow of more than $86 million. The plant's
departure also would have cost the region an additional 287
jobs, the RCGA said.
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