A Wichita, Kan., based manufacturer
of corrugated products will open a distribution
center in Miami's Progress Industrial
Park in about eight weeks.
"We've finally completed a deal,"
said Dave Bykowski, general manager
of Love Box Company. "This is something
we've been working on since June."
A local business leader said attracting
the 81-year-old company to Miami would
not only bring jobs to an area that
topped the state in unemployment as
recently as a year ago, but would help
attract other companies to Miami.
"This is going to be a recruitment
tool for us," said Chuck Neal,
a Miami investment banker and member
of the Miami Industrial Development
Authority and Miami Area Economic Development
Service boards. "With Love Box
opening here, businesses in Miami will
not have to go very far for boxes."
Under terms of a contract negotiated
between privately held Love Box and
the Miami Industrial Development Authority
that owns the industrial park, the company
will lease the Miami Area Economic Development
Services 50,000-square-foot unfinished
building in the industrial park that
sits on approximately 10 acres of land.
The building was constructed five years
ago with money loaned by First National
Bank and Trust Co. of Miami, according
to Judee Snodderly, a member of the
authority's board and the executive
director of the Miami Area Economic
Development Service. Snodderly handled
negotiations with the company.
"This is a great company with a
long history of producing quality products,"
Snodderly said. "They pay good
wages and they're going to be a great
addition to our community."
According to Bykowski, Snodderly and
the economic development service played
a key role in the company's decision
to come to Miami.
"They put the package together
and did all the work," Bykowski
said. "If not for MAEDS, we would
not be here."
Bykowski said Thursday during a visit
to Miami that the total value of the
deal was approximately $1 million.
At a public meeting of the industrial
development authority board, or MIDA,
Snodderly told fellow board members
the deal would involve MIDA purchasing
the building and surrounding land from
the Miami Area Economic Development
Service for $500,000 and then entering
into a 15-year lease purchase agreement
with the box company.
At start-up, Love Box will employ 10
workers in Miami, Bykowski said. Most
of the workers will be truck drivers
and forklift operators.
The Miami facility will be used as a
distribution center and warehousing
operation. A small-scale production
operation could be added in the next
six months to a year.
That would require hiring two additional
employees, Bykowski said.
The company will close a Joplin, Mo.,
production and distribution operation
that employs about 25 workers while
opening the Miami facility.
"We have room for expansion here
(in Miami)," Bykowski said. "But,
the next two years are going to tell
us whether or not we want to stay here
and expand. We have a strong commitment
from (commercial mushroom grower) J-M
Farms and we do a lot of business with
Doane's Pet Care Products. We also do
business with (plastics manufacturers)
Blitz USA and Discovery, but we're going
to need to find more customers and more
sales here if we're going to continue
with this operation."
Bykowski said Love Box was attracted
to Miami because of the industrial park's
close proximity to U.S. Interstate 44,
a Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad
spur that extends into the industrial
park and the ability to bring trucks
pulling two trailers to the industrial
park, something that is not allowed
in some of the seven other states where
Love Box has operations.
Love Box will become the fourth business
to move into the 158-acre industrial
park on Oklahoma Highway 69A on the
eastern edge of Miami. Discovery Plastics,
a J-M Farms growing operation and a
Miami Butane storage facility have previously
moved into the park, where about 80
acres are still available for development. |
