EDC leaders join Interstate 67 Development Corporation in Washington DC

Greater Owensboro EDC leaders joined Daviess County Judge-Executive Al Mattingly as well as mayors and Indiana state legislators from Southern Indiana in Washington DC earlier in the week to advocating the federal designation of Interstate 67, a newly planned interstate that will connect Nashville and Bowling Green to Indianapolis through Owensboro.

I-67 is a top priority of the City of Owensboro, Daviess County Fiscal Court, Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp and Chamber of Commerce. These organizations will be working closely with the Interstate 67 Development Corporation and leadership in Spencer, Dubois, and Daviess counties in southern Indiana.

The two-state delegation met with members of the US House of Representatives and the US Senate from Indiana and Kentucky over the two-day visit.  For more information about I-67 visit this link on the EDC Website.

Owensboro officials break ground on convention center and downtown hotel

Current and former elected officials join Malcolm Bryant and leaders from Independence Bank to break ground on the downtown Owensboro Hampton Inn and Suites and the new Owensboro Convention Center

Hotel developer Malcolm Bryant addresses the crowd.

Boardwalk Pipelines taking preliminary steps toward downtown Owensboro office

Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP (Texas Gas) has come to a preliminary agreement with the Riverfront Jam, LLC developers to relocate the Owensboro office to a downtown. This relocation is subject to definitive agreements being entered into. The conceptual design is to lease a new two-story single tenant office building in the area near the new convention center and three blocks from the company’s original Owensboro location.

The project entails a $12 million capital investment and will retain Boardwalk jobs in Owensboro.

PROJECT WILL INVEST $44 MILLION IN DOWNTOWN OWENSBORO

Owensboro leaders today confirmed a $44 million redevelopment project planned for downtown Owensboro that will add a new hotel and retain more than 200 high paying corporate headquarter jobs in a new office downtown.

The $44 million private investment is the latest project announced as a result of the market-based downtown plan, approved by Owensboro-Daviess County governments in 2009 resulting in $120 million in publicly funded infrastructure and amenities to reinvent downtown Owensboro as a walkable, mixed use urban center. A $20 million Hampton Inn and Suites will break ground on March 13. Over $76 million in public investment has already been announced.

Owensboro Grain to add glycerin refinery

Gov. Steve Beshear’s office announced Friday that the state’s Agricultural Processing Loan Program has approved a $1.5 million processing loan for Owensboro Grain to build a new glycerin refinery.

The 106-year-old Owensboro company is getting ready to build a $15 million to $20 million glycerin refinery near the biodiesel plant on Ewing Road, with plans to refine 40 million pounds a year of the product that’s used in cosmetics.

Owensboro Grain Co.’s 5-year-old biodiesel plant has been running at 100 percent capacity for the past 10 months, pumping out nearly 4 million gallons of fuel a month, Jeff Erb, the company’s chief financial officer, said Friday.

“Proctor & Gamble, which is based in Cincinnati, is one of the biggest buyers of glycerin in the world,” Erb said. “It makes sense for us to do this.”

Crude glycerin is a byproduct of the biodiesel process, he said. The new refinery will turn it into pure glycerin for the cosmetics market.

Erb said the new plant, scheduled to be in operation by the summer of 2013, will employ from 10 to 12 people with an average salary of $50,000-plus.

“These are very good jobs,” he said. “There aren’t many of them because the refinery will be highly automated.”

The biodiesel refinery also employs about 10 to 12 people, Erb said.

“In the last decade, we’ve probably added 50 good paying jobs here,” he said.

Erb said he’s not sure of the total cost of the new refinery because it’s being built by a German company and the price will be in euros.

“It’s a great project and a really good company,” said Nick Brake, president of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp. “We love to see that kind of cutting-edge technology here. We’re excited about what’s happening there.”

Owensboro's Hausner Hard Crome among companies awarded grants by Gov. Beshear

FRANKFORT, Ky. (March 2, 2012) – Governor Steve Beshear today announced the award of more than $226,000 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding to four Kentucky companies. The funding will be used for energy efficiency upgrades in existing Kentucky industrial facilities.

Companies receiving funding include: 3M in Cynthiana ($86,689); Hausner Hard-Chrome in Owensboro ($35,377); AGC Automotive Americas in Elizabethtown ($83,990); and General Motors in Bowling Green ($20,900).

“The Commonwealth is pleased to award these four industrial retrofit grants that will help to further reduce energy consumption in Kentucky’s industrial sector,” Gov. Beshear said. “Many energy-intensive companies have located here because of our attractive energy rates, but it’s imperative that we continue working with industry to conserve energy to keep rates competitive.”

Hausner Hard-Chrome, AGC Automotive Americas and General Motors plan to implement lighting retrofit projects at their Kentucky facilities. 3M will modify existing air handling units to make them more energy-efficient and install an advanced energy monitoring system to measure and analyze energy usage for peak efficiency.

The projects are funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, through the combined efforts of the U.S. Department of Energy, the Kentucky Department for Energy Development and Independence and the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development.

Companies were selected through a competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) process administered by the Cabinet for Economic Development. Awardees are required to contribute at least 50 percent of the total project cost with their own funds.

“We are so thankful to have received these funds from the Cabinet for Economic Development,” said Steve Burke, maintenance specialist with Hausner Hard-Chrome. “We could not have done this project right now without the grant funds. This is going to provide many positive benefits for our company.”

The four awards represent the last round of funding for the Industrial Facility Retrofit Showcase Program. The Energy and Environment Cabinet, however, recently announced a new round of grant funding opportunities for energy-efficiency projects as the result of a 2011 settlement agreement between the Environmental Protection Agency and the Tennessee Valley Authority. Additional information on eligible projects and applicants can be found at http://energy.ky.gov.

Owensboro Leaders attend Interstate 69 Caucus Day in D.C.

Economic development leaders from Owensboro joined counterparts from northwest Kentucky and southwest Indiana in Washington D.C. for the first-ever Interstate 69 Caucus Day.

The I-69 Caucus Day was organized by Kentucky Congressman Ed Whitfield in conjunction with C-LINK to garner among members of Congress about the Interstate 69 corridor.  Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear was among the featured speakers.  The program included remarks from representatives and members of Congress from four of the seven states of the I-69 corridor.

Interstate 69 is a project of regional, national and international significance as a trade corridor that begins in Michigan and goes to Texas passing through the southwest Indiana and northwest Kentucky region.  The completed corridor will connect the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico.   The interstate will  cross the Ohio River 30 miles from Owensboro near Evansville and use existing parkways that have already been designated I-69 throughout western Kentucky.