News Releases for June 2007
June 07, 2007
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Hoeven, Cooperstown Officials Break Ground For New Industrial Park
COOPERSTOWN, N.D. – Gov. John Hoeven, Mayor Connie Swenson, Empowerment Zone Directors, and community leaders were in Cooperstown today to break ground for a new 27 acre city industrial park and its anchor facility, a 21,000 sq. ft., $1.1 million building designed to attract up to three new industrial ventures to the rural community. One tenant has already signed a lease and other are interested, according to local officials. The building project is a partnership between city, state and federal entities, with the Griggs Steele Empowerment Zone as the lead equity investor.
The industrial park anchor building is co-owned by the city of Cooperstown and the Griggs-Steele Empowerment Zone, and was financed with funding from various state, local and federal funding programs, including the North Dakota Development Fund and the Bank of North Dakota. Partners for the building also include USDA Rural Business Enterprise Grant funds; Griggs Steele Empowerment Zone funds; City of Cooperstown; Cooperstown Economic Development Corp.
“Cooperstown represents the kind of partnership and innovation that can help rural communities everywhere combine their outstanding quality of life with North Dakota’s educated workforce and solid work ethic to attract first rate companies and good jobs,” Hoeven said. “We congratulate them on their creativity and energy.”
In addition to Hoeven, present for the ceremony were Cooperstown Mayor Connie Swenson; Cooperstown Community Development Specialist Becky Meidinger; U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Director Clare Carlson; Marketing & Community Development Director for the Griggs-Steele Empowerment Zone Brenda Dissette; local legislators; city council members; and county commissioners. Don Roepke, CEO of Datacom International, and Tom Kenville, of Valley Angel Investment Fund, were also on hand to announce the launch of dataSIGN, a new Datacom venture in Cooperstown.
“The partnership between the Empowerment Zone and the City of Cooperstown is a first, and if the model works, it will be done in other Zone communities in the future,” Meidinger said. “Without available space most of the rural communities in our region would not have the opportunity to bring a new or expanding company into their communities.”
“USDA Rural Development is happy for our part in this valuable community project. We are pleased to help a community fulfill its vision and plan for success,” Carlson said. “This funding through the Rural Business Enterprise Grant Program, which helps in the development of small and emerging businesses, is just one of our many programs focused on rural North Dakota.”
“It is truly a dream come true for our community and the zone to have a new building of this size, especially with the potential for new jobs coming into the area and the growth that will result from it,” said Swenson.
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