EDA of St. Clair County - Business Attraction

2011-11-17T12:55:00.001-05:00

Port Huron recognized as eCities 2011 Top Performing Community http://ping.fm/11mzYtory/article/UM_Dearborns_iLabs_eCities_research_recognizes_45_Michigan_communities_developing_a_positive_entrep/

2011-09-14T09:17:00.001-04:00

New St. Clair County Entrepreneurial & Small Business database launched. Check it out at http://ping.fm/Dvv0G

2011-06-03T09:30:00.001-04:00

New $3 billion initiative invests in Michigan businesses! http://ping.fm/t9AEL$3-billion-initiative-invests-in-Michigan-businesses/

2011-05-24T08:52:00.001-04:00

EDA invests in targeting to key executives via web tools & apps for business location decisions: http://ping.fm/u5obp

2011-05-23T09:19:00.001-04:00

http://ping.fm/B2Al1 - EDA is in attendance to network with industry decision makers and market SCC at WindPower 2011!

Medical Supply Industry

2011-05-14T13:00:00.000-04:00

Medical Supply: We have met with area hospital representatives regarding how supplies are purchased and where the distribution of these supplies occurs. What we found out is that hospitals buy in groups along with other regional hospitals for economy of scale. These "buyer" organizations use national medical distribution companies that are typically centrally located to large metro areas in order to limit transportation costs. These distribution corridors are typically along I-94 from Detroit heading west toward Kalamazoo. This allows access to I-94, I-75 and I-69 to service Flint, Lansing and southeast Michigan. The conclusion of this is we are not in a central location to customers and in fact we are on the fringe of the market area. The only suggestion would be for the import/export of medical goods between Ontario and Michigan. This area needs to be investigated.

American Wind Energy Association 2011 - Anaheim,CA

2011-05-11T20:02:00.000-04:00

I'll be going to Anaheim,CA for the AWEA National Conference on May 22-25. This is the largest wind energy event in the country with over 20,000 particpants. Last year we were able to meet with several international OEM turbine manufacturers and plan on building additional relationships at this year's event.

2011-05-03T09:17:00.001-04:00

St. Clair County Tec recently sent 46 students to the Michigan Leadership & Skills Conference. Tec students earned (5) first place medals, (6) second place medals and (5) third place medals. Nice work! http://ping.fm/4ryO4

2011-04-29T16:17:00.001-04:00

EDA's CEO, Dan Casey, will be traveling to the CoreNet Global Summit in Chicago next week to promote St. Clair County as a premier place to do business to over 1,600 individuals, representing over 200 companies at the event. http://ping.fm/uSY9F

2011-04-21T16:05:00.001-04:00

The Economic Development Alliance has learned of an RFQ opportunity with a Major OEM seeking a mold maker for the production of upwards of 1,300 parts. If your company has the capability to produce a tool and die product and you are interested in responding to this "Request for Qualifications" - please contact David Haynes at EDA (810) 982-9511 as soon as possible.

2010-12-03T08:54:00.001-05:00

We are working with a company that has a glow puck product that is produced in a similar fashion as plastic molds. This company is looking to partner with a company in producing the product.
Please call for more details call David Haynes at the EDA toll free 1-877-982-9511.

2010-10-13T09:02:00.001-04:00

U.S. faces a long road to economic recovery - recommended read and share from the New York Times:http://ping.fm/Y3M2A

2010-09-13T11:11:00.001-04:00

In Port Huron our Blue Water Arts Committee just approved another $5,000 grant to support the upcoming Blue Water Film Festival.
Visit http://ping.fm/PSrwQ for details. ~ The Community Foundation of St. Clair County
http://ping.fm/rTor7

2010-09-01T10:22:00.001-04:00

SC4 has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to develop new science classes focusing on freshwater systems. The grant will pay for curriculum development and some equipment. These will be SC4â€™s first freshwater systems classes. SC4 faculty are working to develop new science classes offering the study of ecological and biological aspects of freshwater systems. They will focus on Great Lakes and local waterways with classes expected to include field work. The classes are expected to be available in fall semester 2011.

2010-08-31T10:35:00.001-04:00

St. Clair County company, PTM Corporation acquires Macomb County Prototype Tooling and Manufacturing, Inc. ~ http://ping.fm/G9Ywl

2010-08-04T12:05:00.001-04:00

WWJ950 Radio ~ Ann Arbor firm puts UM Hydropower Concept to Work (St. Clair River)
http://ping.fm/9LOIV

2010-07-28T16:20:00.001-04:00

Vortex Hydro Energy, LLC (VHE) will be installing their hydrokinetic alternative energy pilot project in the St. Clair River at a location adjacent to Dunn Paper; next Monday (2 August) sometime between 10 am and 2 pm VORTEX plans to place the system in the river. This date and time frame is highly dependent on the weather and river conditions that day. The installation will require the use of in river divers that must have clear visibility to proceed.

2010-07-16T10:29:00.001-04:00

Fox 2 News reports - Port Huron is Pure Michigan!
http://ping.fm/svL2O

2010-07-16T09:52:00.001-04:00

Fox 2 News encourages a "Zip Trip" to Port Huron for Blue Water Fest events and Port Huron to Mackinac Sailboat races http://ping.fm/vS8y5

2010-07-13T15:43:00.001-04:00

Check out St. Clair County, Michigan on Flckr - http://ping.fm/na3sM

2010-07-13T15:39:00.001-04:00

EDA is now on Twitter - follow us at: http://ping.fm/UN5r7

2010-06-29T08:55:00.001-04:00

Divers, pack your gear and come to St. Clair County, Michigan! This Times Herald "Discover The Deep Blue" article highlights our world class diving available in the Blue Water Area. http://ping.fm/WaSrJ

Energy Components Group & the EcoVElectric

2010-01-07T21:16:00.008-05:00

Congratulations to Todd and Rich at ECG for the opportunity to develop this new car in St. Clair County.

The EcoVElectric

Let's hope ECG's project becomes a great success!

Below is a solar engine that ECG is providing the components to.

Where Blue Meets Green

2009-11-20T16:06:00.005-05:00

“Where Blue Meets Green”

When we originally created and began using the “Where Blue Meets Green” slogan a few years ago our intent was to emphasize our beautiful blue water amenities coupled with the opportunities for investments and ROI that are present in St. Clair County. However, this slogan had a dual purpose in that “Where Blue Meets Green” also referred to the potential for Alternative Energy projects in our area. It turns out
the alternative energy portion in this slogan is becoming more & more prominent as Alternative Energy projects take shape in St. Clair County. Recently, the EDA announced two alternative energy related projects that have chosen St. Clair County to call home. The first being Vortex Hyrdo Energy (VHE). VHE has picked St. Clair County for a hydrokinetic alternative energy pilot project. VHE has exclusive license to commercialize a University of Michigan patented, hydrokinetic power generating device, the VIVACE converter and will place one ore more of these devices between the mouth of the river and the City of St. Clair. VIVACE uses the physical phenomenon of vortex induced vibration in which water current flows around cylinders creating movement. The energy contained in the movement of the cylinder is then converted to electricity. The second alternative energy project that St. Clair County welcomes is Energy Components Group (ECG). ECG has chosen St. Clair County for a new alternative energy manufacturing facility and will serve as a tier one supplier to customers in the solar and wind power industries. ECG will be invest $20 million over the next several years. A recent two day job fair on November 10th and 12th netted over 1,150 applicants for ECG. All ECG employees will be required to obtain a National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC) which is expected to become a commonplace workforce credential in St. Clair County in the near future.

Did you know?Statewide, St. Clair Country ranks…
Ranks #3 in patents
Ranks #18 in bioscience jobs
Ranks #22 in High-Tech Jobs

Ontario's Green Energy Act & Feed-In Tariff

2009-10-11T12:18:00.004-04:00

In the past year Ontario has past the Green Energy Act which is an aggressive program to implement alternative energy projects in the province. This act is being used to create jobs and to lessen the reliance on coal fired plants with the intension that by 2014, all coal-fired plants
will be replaced by other sources. The true driver for this change is going to be the recently implemented feed in-tariff that pays a premium for the electricity produced by an alternative energy development. In the short time that this program has been approved, there has been signifcant activity by developers in announcing new projects in the region. Recently it was announced, a developer was planning the largest offshore wind turbine project in the world with over 800 turbines being planned for Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Currently, the act allows for 75% of the content of the turbines to be from outside Canada. This will change in 2012, to a new requirement that 50% of the turbine's content has to be produced within Canada. I believe that there's opportunity for St. Clair County due of advantages so that we can benefit from this major initiative that is taking just across the border.

Water Park for the Blue Water Area

2009-07-15T11:04:00.006-04:00

On June 4, 2009, we made an online announcement via a mass distribution service that St. Clair County was seeking an indoor waterpark.

We are pleased to have received over 700 views of this announcement and even had interest shown from key hospitality resort owners. St. Clair County offers an ideal location for a water park; and as leading reports have shown, the “bigger” the “better” when competing with other regional water parks and when trying to create a tourist destination. We will continue to market
the attributes of St. Clair County to waterpark developers and the hospitality and leisure markets. In St. Clair County, Michigan and surrounding communities also, families have a very short window to enjoy outdoor recreational opportunities. Put simply, our summers are very short and our winters are very long. So for several months of the year, families find themselves experiencing “cabin fever” and desperate for a warm-weather escape; which explains why in a struggling economy, you still find waterpark resorts like Kalahari in Sandusky, Ohio, filled during school vacations such as Spring break.

Many families are taking shorter vacations and traveling closer to home, so Indoor Waterparks are an “easy to please” vacation for the whole family. Amenities offered are not only enjoyed by toddlers, tweens, and teens, but even by Mom & Dad. Waterparks provide an easy & affordable way to entertain an entire family with children of all ages in a one-stop destination. We offer strong demographics in the 180 mile radius ring crucial to the success of these type of projects and with both blue and white collar workers we appeal to budgets and desired family vacation experiences for a wide variety of household demographics. Also, being situated on the Canadian border allows you to tap into both the U.S. and Canadian markets (such as Toronto). Hopefully in the near future, we will have a waterpark located in St. Clair County. We’ll keep you posted!

Is there value in tourism??

According to a recent independent study it can have a substantial impact to a local economy.

"The estimated economic value of the Bayview Mackinac race under the finest weather and travel conditions is estimated at $59.5 million," stated noted Economist David Littmann in a recent study on the annual race event. "Even with sub-optimal weather conditions overall spending associated with the race,both direct and indirect, is approximately $30.4 million."

Littmann, who served as Comerica Bank's Chief Economist for 30 years before joining the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in 2008, added that the weather impact is related to people actually getting out to attend race related events. He noted the fact that the longevity of the race has created a loyal fan following that comes to Michigan every year to be a part of the race.

2009-06-01T21:03:00.004-04:00

Pictured to the left: Rich Pirrotta, Todd Kilgus of Energy Components Group (ECG) bringing 250 alternative energy jobs to St. Clair County, Michigan

Sorry that it's been awhile, but we have had several projects recently that took up much of my time . We've already made one announcement of Energy Components Group, a company locating in St.Clair and we are hopeful that we can make more announcements in the near future . Most people don't realize how much time is involved in attracting new business . In the case of Energy Components Group it took nearly eight months before we're able to finalize their project . It started by first helping them find the right location, which took several tries and several communities, along with working with our state partners and one's from the local community to gain their support as it required both a renaissance zone and a mega tax credit to keep Energy Components Group from locating to another state. I hope to be able to share more about how business attraction works, both with our success stories and also the stories about the ones that got away.

One such story is a company informed us that our area was not even in the running, because we were not located in a growth corridor such as Oakland County. We were able to present a package that included taking photos of our community, its residential areas, its downtown, its quality of life along with a quality building that met their needs . The building owner made an extremely attractive offer to this company. We were able to work with a businesses that was in the process of closing that would have provided a list of qualified, unemployed workers that would be part of the new staff for this company. This was going to save the new company close to $300,000 in operating costs along with the headhunting fees for its new employees. We went from being the underdog to one of their top two choices. Unfortunately, the economy changed in the fall of 2008 and the company stopped all activity to their expansion plans . We're still hopeful and remain in contact with this company. This is a story that should be told that many people don't get to hear. For every success there are many attempts.

More Details on My Background

2009-03-15T20:17:00.003-04:00

After completing my Bachelor of Science degree at Central Michigan University, I returned to Port Huron to work as a residential real estate appraiser. Two years later I accepted a position with TRW in their real estate division. During that time I lived in Naperville, which for many years has been rated one of the top communities in the country. After working five years in the Chicagoland area, I had the opportunity to return to Michigan and continue in the appraisal field in St. Clair County.

I was appointed to St. Clair County’s Metropolitan Planning Commission where I served three years as Vice-Chair. During that time, I chaired the subcommittee on the consultant selection for the county’s master plan.

After serving six years on the Metropolitan Planning Commission, I then spent the next six years volunteering on Main Street's Economic Restructuring Committee, where I served as chair for two years. During this time the committee brought in experts from other successful communities to share practices. Retail brokers and developers were invited to tour Port Huron and we attended & manned booths at community re-development ICSC expos. We were also involved with downtown business recruitment, incentive development and retail development plans by Strategic Edge.

I've also worked as consultant to Port Huron’s Renaissance Neighborhood, where we designed, planned and implemented steps to increase the owner occupancy of that 16 block neighborhood. I have also served 4 years on Port Huron’s City Council.

As a commercial real estate broker, I was involved on the Board of Directors of CBOR, the statewide commercial real estate professional group. During this time, I pursued additional coursework in commercial (CCIM Program) real estate that focused on the research and quantifying of communities to determine the viability and feasibility of potential companies within a geographic area.

All of these past experiences have been combined to help me pursue my present position as Director of Business Attraction for the EDA. I have held this position since July of 2007 and I’ve come to realize that many of my colleagues, who are in the economic development field, also come from a wide variety of backgrounds. Up until recently, there has not been any formal degree in economic development offered at any college or university. It's amazing to me that past experiences take us on journeys that we may not have expected or planned.

Alternative energy

2009-02-18T20:02:00.005-05:00

We have been working on alternative energy from several different directions. One of areas of focus being in the application and implementation of alternative energy, meaning the use of alternative energy within our county. This would include the development of a wind farm utilizing the northeast sections of St. Clair County along with looking at hydro-kinetic energy using water turbines and exploring what options we might have in this regard. In the area of wind energy, St. Clair County does have an area, although small in comparison to the thumb, that has similar wind speeds at the 300 foot level with the power transmission lines already in relatively close proximity. In regards to utilizing hydro-kinetic power, the challenge at this point is that most of the technology is still in its beginning stages and is highly subsidized. That said, we do have the opportunity we would like to capitalize on our region and that would be for research and development of these technologies in partnering with university's. The other direction for alternative energy is in the manufacturing of the components that go into the wind turbine industry. This is accomplished through attracting manufacturing companies that are that are part of the supply chain and by refitting our existing companies so they become part of the supply chain to the wind energy industry. The retention side of the EDA is holding seminars and workshops to help companies to diversify away from automotive sector. On the attraction side, we are ideally suited for the wind energy technology with our railways, expressways and potential for port access. We have an advantage in that we are close to the thumb projects along with the wind farms of Ontario. Again, the three main areas we look at what we think about alternative energy is the application of it using the natural assets whether the wind or water, the manufacturing side were we look at helping existing companies to diversify and then attracting new manufacturing into the area that can benefit from our logistics and location with the access to a possible seaport, rail and highway.

Targeted Industries

2009-01-29T11:17:00.008-05:00

A New Beginning for St. Clair County

EDA over the past year has been looking into ways to diversify our economy that include the areas of medical, film industry, aviation, defense/homeland security, New American manufacturers, and alternative energy. In regards to alternative energy, our region has many advantages over other locations with the availability of rail, expressways and possible port locations. We have an excellent logistics package. Also, in the area of defense we have a Hubzone designation within an industrial park which allows for defense industry companies to have an advantage in regards to the bidding of certain government projects. We are constantly looking for new opportunities given the challenges we face with the auto industry.
Visit www.edascc.com