Ascension Economic Development

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Ascension Economic Development Corporation
Update Mid-Year 2007 Report to the Ascension
Parish Council Tommy J. Kurtz, CEcD, MPA Edie
Michel
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Key Operational Highlights

• 2 industrial announcements since March-140
  million total investment
• Initial review phase of Ascension megasites
  completed and final site chosen
• Hosted major call center prospect with 300 jobs
• Assisting with workforce grants and coordination
  with Cabelas
• LECC received over 15,000 in grants from
  incubator association
• Retention calling program with Synchronist and
  working on four major retention and expansion
  projects

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Key Operational Highlights

• AEDC attended national trade shows in
  construction, retail, chemical
• Assisted with BRAC regional workforce study
• Assisted with development of Ascension Fresh
  Market with Ascension Leadership, Ascension
  Chamber, and Ascension Tourism Commission at
  Lamar Dixon
• Business and Industrial Park Development Project
• Downstream Fine and Specialty Chemical Project
• AEDCs 501c3 foundation has raised 205,000 in
  commitments with 93,100 collected to date to
  fund food incubator, megasite, business park, and
  downstream chemical projects from public and
  private sources.

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Location Announcements

• Kinder Morgan (Delta Terminal) liquid bulk
  storage at Rubicon-43 jobs, 37 million
  capital-room for growth
• Rubicon-100 million Maleic Andyride expansion
  (25 jobs)

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Current Attraction Projects 10 prospect visits
in 2007 -Biodiesel project 2 Liquid Bulk
Storage Facilities -Upscale Theatre -Biomass
Plant -Retail Development-Gonzales -Liquid Bulk
Storage-Kinder Morgan -Call Center -Hotel Still
pending -Biomass Plant -Machine Shop -Ethanol
Plant -Upscale Theatre DEAD - Reily Foods-Food
Processor for Donaldsonville-Located in
TN -Gonzales Call Center -Car Dealership
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• Current Attraction Projects
• Retail Development
• Contacts made at International Council of
  Shopping Centers conference
• with major retailers by AEDC in May
• AEDC will be sending monthly updated real estate
  listings within
• the Parish to national retailers from lacbd.com

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Request for Proposals 13 RFPs in 2007 -Project
Empire-200 jobs-LED-Food -Project Star-200
jobs-BRAC-Call Center -Steel Processing-200
jobs-LED-Steel -Project Terry-80
jobs-LED-Textile -Project Queen-300-BRAC-LED-Call
Center -Site Selection Group-250-AEDC-Call
Center Project Pioneer-200-BRAC-Metal
Fabrication Project Oak, 1,200 jobs,metal
fabrication, BRAC
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• 2007 Planned Trade Shows/Conferences
• Intl Builders Show (with BRAC)-February-Orlando (
  Edie-completed)
• National Petroleum Refinery Assc.-March (Tommy)
• International Council of Shopping Centers-May
  (Edie)
• Corporate Home Office Visit-Houston-Summer
  (Tommy)
• Chemical Show/NJ/NY Home Office Visit-November
  (Tommy)
• American Film Market-November (Edie/Tommy)
• Corenet Global-Fall Meeting-November (Tommy)

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• Movie Locations
• The Last Waltz of the Tear Drop Diamond-Filming
  in
• Donaldsonville and Napoleonville in August
• 6 RFPS sent and 3 movie scout visits
• 20 million Bonnie and Clyde Movie HQs
• -still securing financing

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• Movie Locations
• More than 80 emails sent out to film producers
  met at AFM In Santa Monica in November
• AEDC contracted with local movie scout-
• over 580 pictures taken of Ascension scenes and
• placed in Lacaeda database on website
• Ascension Parish and Donaldsonville to be
  featured in LA Film and Video Magazine-Spring
  issue

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Article in LA Film and Video Magazine (April
2007) Donaldsonville The quaint city of
Donaldsonville in Ascension Parish, Louisiana,
sets the scenes for period films needing old
cemeteries, Victorian homes, river scenes, rows
of gunshot houses, old prisons and courthouses.
Historic Donaldsonvilles old main streets
reflect late 1800s architectural buildings,
diners, banks, and general stores that have been
virtually untouched by renovations and
modernizations. Recent films include All The
Kings Men, Because of Winn Dixie, Dukes of
Hazzard, and, currently in production, The
Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This Mississippi
river town setting, with its swaying cane fields
and majestic plantation homes, offers assistance
from the local economic development organization
AEDC in cooperation with the Ascension Tourist
Commission in providing scouting services and a
database. Several hundred scout locations can be
viewed by visiting www.ascensionedc.com, then
clicking on Film in Ascension, or contact Edie
Michel at 225-675-1750.
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• Business Retention and Expansion
• Projects (continued from 2006)
• 100 million chemical expansion, 25
  jobs-announced-Rubicon
• 30-40 million chemical modernization, retention
  of 30 jobs-approved
• But not announced-Project Green
• 7 million steel support company, 40 jobs-pending
• New in 2007
• -Local foundry-3.5 million expansion, 30 new
  jobs-pending
• -Chemical Plant-300 million expansion
• Gas Plant Project-150 million expansion

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• Business Retention and Expansion
• 9 visits since start of 2007
• 35 retention visits since start of 2006
• Companies Visited
• -Acadian Waste
• -Beck Companies
• -Dupont
• -Eatel
• -Oxychem (Vulcan)
• -PCS Nitrogen
• -Pearce Industries
• -Emerson
• -Westlake Vinyls
• Retention visits in July with BRAC to Ascension
  operations
• with HQs in Texas

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• Business Retention and Expansion
• Synchronist Survey Results (Jan 06-May 07)
• Company Profiles
• -43- Advanced Manufacturing
• -25- Business Services
• 13- Building and Construction
• 9-Communications
• -10 other
• -50 established in 1951-1975
• -43 established from 1976-2000
• -71 have room for expansion
• -65 own their facility

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• Business Retention and Expansion-Synchronist
• Product Information
• -58 growing
• -21 maturing
• -21 emerging
• - 70 expect new products in next five years
• Market Breakdown
• -19 Local
• -19 Regional
• -27 National
• -31 International
• 70 -Sales are increasing

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• Business Retention and Expansion-Synchronist
• Market Share
• -54 increasing
• -38 stable
• Export Sales
• -61 no exports
• -17 increasing
• -22 stable
• Overseas Competition
• -72 stable
• -21 increasing

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• Business Retention and Expansion-Synchronist
• Mergers and Acquisitions Sector
• -27 increasing
• -64 stable
• Product Capacity
• -35 under capacity
• -61 balanced
• Legislation Adversely Affecting Company in 5
  years
• -81 yes
• Legislation Benefiting Company in 5 years
• -75 yes

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• Business Retention and Expansion-Synchronist
• Company ownership changing in 18 months?
• -85 no
• Employment Needs at Facility
• -41 stable
• -54 increasing
• 5 decreasing
• Any Reasons for No Expansion?
• -82 no

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• Business Retention and Expansion-Synchronist
• Rankings (1-7, 1lowest7 highest)
• Workforce
• Availability-55 good to excellent (3.79)
• Quality-65 good to excellent(5.21)
• Stability-69 good to excellent(5.38)
• Productivity-80 good to excellent(5.60)
• Recruiting Problems
• -52-yes
• Unfilled Positions
• -64 stable
• -12 increasing
• -24 Decreasing
• -Recruiting problems attributed to industry (47)
  and community (53)

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• Business Retention and Expansion-Synchronist
• Rankings (1-7, 1lowest7 highest)
• Community Evaluation
• Police-6.24
• Fire-6
• Paramedics-6.25
• Healthcare-5
• K-12 Public Schools-5.44
• Technical College-5.45
• Community College-5.5
• Colleges/Universities-5.5
• Local Roads- 3.58
• Highways-4.18

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• Business Retention and Expansion-Synchronist
• Rankings (1-7, 1lowest7 highest, 4 average)
• Community Evaluation Continued
• Property Tax Assessment-4.33
• Zoning-4.73
• Regulatory-5
• Community Planning-3.13
• Chamber of Commerce-5.0
• AEDC-5.3
• 80 Support Ascension as a place to do
  business!!!
• 62 plan an expansion in next three years!!
• Over 400 million in expansions planned,
• over 200 new jobs from retention visits!

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• Business Retention and Expansion-Synchronist
• Comments from Businesses
• Positives
• Area has great access with water, rail, and
  interstate
• Good public schools
• Good and loyal workforce
• Great law enforcement services
• Good access to regional customers
• Concerns
• Lack of infrastructure hurting parish
• Difficult to work with local government
  officials to make them aware of industry issues
• Local government does not get the big picture
• Local infrastructure poor
• Retiring workforce in coming years will cause
  employment shortage

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• LA Edible Creations Center
• 8 contracts signed, 5 active tenants
• --Chef KD
• -Gumbo Roux Maker
• -Frozen Espresso Shot Maker
• -Drakes Catering
• -Barbeque Sauce Maker
• Parish increased funding for LECC-39,000
• Funds spent so far include marketing at LRA
  conference, refrigerator,
• equipment, brochures, and for tank storage
  installation
• Partnership with Air Products for Liquid Nitrogen
  Equipment
• for Flash Freezing of Food Products
• 15,000 in grants awarded from LA Incubator Assc.
  LED to LECC and
• up to 50,000 matching funds available July 1st
  for more equipment

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• Ascension Fresh Market at Lamar Dixon
• Joint project with Ascension Leadership Class,
  AEDC,
• Ascension Chamber, Ascension Tourism
• Started April 22nd, official grand opening May
  26th
• Farmers, food vendors every Saturday from
  8am-12pm
• 18 vendor contracts, 10 vendors on an average
  Saturday
• with average of 200 customers
• Opportunities for LECC food incubator clients to
  sell products
• Website, phone number, weekly marketing in local
  papers

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• Ascension Megasite
• Final two sites selected-Orange Grove/Pointe
  Sunshine (Pointe Houmas)
• Current Negotiation with Pointe Houmas owners on
  option-
• First Deepwater Access Site on Mississippi
  River
• Appraisal pending on Pointe Sunshine (Houmas)
• Phase I, Wetland Assessment, Geotechnical
  Evaluation and
• Utility Assessment to be completed on Pointe
  Houmas
• 20,000 in matching funds from BRAC, Port of BR
  and Entergy
• Ad for Megasite in Site Selection Magazine in
  July for Pointe Houmas
• AEDC staff will market both sites nationally with
  BRAC,
• Entergy, LED, and Port of Greater Baton Rouge

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Ad in Site Selection Magazine July 2007
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• 2007 Initiatives
• Business Park Development
• Taimerica, LLC performing feasibility project
• Proposal would also identify three best sites,
  costs of
• development for park and allow AEDC prospects to
  market sites to and regional and national
  business park developers
• 26,500 matching grant awarded from LED
• Completion in Fall 2007 and full scale marketing
  of Ascension and sites

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Business Park Development Potential Sites
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• 2007 Initiatives
• Downstream Specialty Chemical Initiative
• SSA Consultants of Baton Rouge performing pilot
  plant study
• Streams identified, target companies and
  marketing plan being created to market to
  potential fine and specialty chemical companies
  to co-locate at BASF
• Study completion in Fall 2007
• Marketing in Fall 2007 and at SOCMA Conference
  and American Chemical Association Conference in
  New Orleans in early 2008

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• Other projects
• AEDC contracted by Parish to do economic impact
  of Lamar
• -Dixon Expo Center with study completed by LSU
• Presentation to be given to Council on July 19th
  by LSU officials

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• Remaining Board Meeting Dates for 2007
• September 20, 2007
• December 13, 2007

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Questions? www.ascensionedc.com tkurtz_at_ascensione
dc.com emichel_at_ascensionedc.com bduplessis_at_ascensi
onedc.com 225-675-1750-p 225-675-1751-f 6967
Highway 22 Sorrento, LA 70778