The Hutchinson Economic Development Authority has three main objectives: the retention and expansion of existing businesses, recruiting new businesses to the community, and downtown revitalization. Those shift in priority from time to time.

Downtown revitalization took center stage for several years with more than $12 million in improvements. But the EDA’s emphasis has transitioned to industrial park development during the past two years, EDA Director Miles Seppelt said.

Seppelt and his seven-member EDA board are working on a 77-acre expansion of the industrial park in the city’s southeast corner. A feasibility study has been completed and the agency will now seek grants, such as a business development infrastructure grant from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, to help build a street and utilities in the area. The goal is to begin work in 2009 on a seven-lot first phase.

In 2006, the EDA successfully recruited Redwood Falls-based Warrior Manufacturing to expand in Hutchinson. The company’s 92,000-square-foot facility opened in mid-2007 and employs 24 people making metal components for mainly agricultural companies, such as ethanol plants.

In late 2007, construction began on a 22,000-square-foot building across Fifth Avenue Southeast from Warrior. Customer Elation is a Bloomington-based customer service call center that expects to open in April 2008. It could employ up to 200 people within two years.

Plans to build a “spec” building along Fifth Avenue appear to be on hold for now, according to Seppelt. However, other options are being explored to provide budding companies the space they need to grow.

Another ongoing project for the EDA is its work to move Hutchinson Cooperative’s Cenex fertilizer plant from Third Avenue Northwest to a new site just outside city limits along Adams Street Southeast. The city will demolish the Third Avenue site for future redevelopment.

“That was a great example of how the EDA can come along beside an existing business and help it grow,” Seppelt said. “We want to take care of our existing businesses. They are our bread and butter and add jobs every year.”

Seppelt and his counterpart in Glencoe have been working together to promote establishment of a McLeod County economic development agency. As of early February, almost all county cities and chambers of commerce had lined up in support of the idea.

To learn more about the EDA, call Miles Seppelt at (320) 234-4223, or log on to www.hutchinsoneda.com.