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Port Of New Orleans And Tri-City Regional Port District Enter Into Marketing Agreement

New Orleans—A marketing agreement signed today could help spur commerce between New Orleans and the southern Illinois - St. Louis, Mo. region.

The Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans and the Tri-City Regional Port District signed a three-year marketing agreement to develop waterborne commerce between both ports’ regions and capitalize on the numerous shallow-draft carriers serving the inland river system.

“Historically, we’ve had strong ties and a successful working relationship with the Tri-City Regional Port District,” said Gary LaGrange, President and CEO of the Port of New Orleans. “We’ve established sister-port agreements between the two ports in the past and this agreement will only serve to strengthen that relationship.”

Charles King, Jr., chairman of the Tri-City Regional Port District, referred to both Port’s as “neighbors serving America’s heartland.”

“We serve many of the same markets in the heartland of America,” King said. “And we felt a strong tug at our heartstrings following Hurricane Katrina because we had a similar disaster here – the Mississippi River flood of 1993. I consider both ports partners in progress – both located on the most vital waterway in the nation.”

Under the agreement, port staff will focus on the natural geographic partnership and promote the use of the each other’s facilities. Officials hope to focus marketing efforts on the breadth of shallow-draft carriers serving the nation’s 14,500-mile inland waterway system; work jointly to maximize the potential of rail links between the ports with emphasis on containerized intermodal business; and identify and facilitate NAFTA-related commerce between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

The Tri-City Regional Port District is a 1,200-acre facility in southwest Illinois, just minutes from downtown St. Louis. The Port moves more than 3 million tons of cargo annually by barge, rail and truck and has numerous industrial properties available for lease and development. The District is located in the cities of Granite City, Madison and Venice, Ill. The Port and its tenants offer a wide range of services and facilities including barge, rail and truck transfer; industrial, commercial and residential development sites; and warehouse and commercial lease opportunities.

The Port of New Orleans is located at the center of the world’s busiest port complex – Louisiana’s Lower Mississippi River. Its proximity to the American Midwest via a 14,500-mile inland waterway system, six Class One railroads and the interstate highway system makes New Orleans the port of choice for the movement of cargoes such as steel, rubber, coffee, containers and manufactured goods.

Port contributed $208 million to economy; New harbor also planned

By Chris Coates
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 8:35 AM CST

Ask Tri-City Regional Port District Executive Director Bob Wydra how many tenants are housed in the 1,200-acre industrial park and warehouse center he leads, and it's likely he'll hand over a poster-sized page packed with the names of 75 companies, firms and other clients in tiny type.

"And this one's old. There's probably another 10 more," Wydra said on a visit to his offices Thursday afternoon.

The list is telling because it underscores a recent report that shows the sprawling port, which sits just off Illinois Route 3 in Granite City, Venice and Madison, is one of the largest economic generators in the region.The study, completed by Edwardsville-based RSN Economic Group Inc., found the complex generated more than $208 million last year and employed 1,347 people.

During 2007, the port also:

* Facilitated more than 4 million tons of cargo on 2,500 barges, 30,000 railcars and 40,000 trucks

* Provided $66 million in wages and salaries

* Generated $10 million in annual state taxes and local tax revenues

The results were surprising to even to Wydra, who commissioned the report last year after a number of in-house studies.

"I didn't know how it would turn out," he said. "I was very pleased."

The facility grew out of the Melvin Price Support Center, a former army depot the federal government closed, and now includes three elements with different client bases: the Chain of Rocks Harbor, River's Edge Industrial Park and a Foreign Trade Zone.

The complex includes warehouse space and manufacturing mixed with remaining military housing and a nine-hole golf course.

Among the largest clients are U.S. Steel, the U.S. Air Force, Shapiro Metals Inc., Ameren, Mattingly Lumber & Millwork Inc., St. Louis Steel Rule Die Inc., DaimlerChrysler Corp. and ConocoPhillips Co.

That diverse nature, Wydra said, makes the port and River's Edge somewhat more insulated to economic downturns than previous years, when the port heavily relied on transporting grains and steel. A single drought or economic slowdown could have spelled disaster, he said.

"We're in a different place now," Wydra said. "We have a lot of balance. We have a much more reliable variety."

Among the new projects set for this year are a new manufacturing facility for the air dome maker Arizon Cos. and the long-anticipated Abengoa ethanol plant.

Wydra said he's confident the Abengoa Bioenergy project, which will cost $205 million, provide 340 jobs and generate $323 million, will get off the ground.

"They are going to build," he said.

The port also recently signed a lease with Ultimate Fighting Championship personality Matt Hughes to open a mixed martial arts center called Hughes Intensive Training Squad in the 13,500-square-foot former Post Exchange Building at 400 A. St

Other recent new tenants include a Connecticut fabric maker, Fairfield Processing Corp., and Western Extralite Co., a Kansas City, Mo.-based electrical and data communications retailer.

Western Extralite Operations Manager Justin Williamson said the company selected Granite City for its proximity to St. Louis and its growing roster of Illinois clients, which includes Granite City schools, the city and the Park District.

"It's always been a goal of ours to get an Illinois branch," said Williamson, who grew up in Granite City and worked for several years in Maryland Heights. Most of the other workers are from Illinois, he said last month.

"We're all local guys," he said.

Wydra said officials are now looking to create another port, called River's Edge South Harbor, below Dam 27 at the south section of the facility, near the McKinley Bridge. It will cost about $18 million.

Crews will also replace roads and some rail lines in the complex, Wydra said.

"There are a lot of capabilities here," he said, "lots of site development opportunities."

Maker of air-inflated domes eyes Madison for factory
BY WILL BUSS, News-Democrat

The maker of some of the world's largest air-inflated domes wants to build a factory in the metro-east.

Arizon Air Structures, of Bridgeton, Mo., will meet with the city of Madison's Building Commission to discuss the company's plans to build a manufacturing plant and warehouse on six acres of River's Edge, the business park at the Tri-City Regional Port District in Granite City and Madison. Facilities manager Jim Scheer said the company has leased the land and needs enough room where at least two of its larger 80,000-square-foot domes can fit inside so workers have enough space to build them. He said construction of the plant could begin by spring and could initially employ 20 to 40.

Arizon was developed from the Johnson Heater Corp., of Maryland Heights, Mo., which has been developing heating and cooling systems since the 1920s. The company originally provided the mechanics for air-dome structures in the 1960s. Today, the Arizon Cable Grid System is made of a patented fabric that can withstand 150-mph wind gusts and up to 50 pounds of snow and ice per square foot.

"It's nothing more than a heating and cooling unit blowing a quantity of air into a building that is held in place by a network of cables laced across the top and anchored by a grate beam foundation," Scheer said. "All of the load and wind and snow is transferred to the ground."

The company manufactures mainly for sports and recreational uses. It has manufactured and installed air structures for the Korean and Chinese Olympics and has built a 135,000-square-foot dome, its largest, in Williamsport, Pa. Other clientele include the Regency Raquet Club in McLean, Va.; the Memphis YMCA; an all-weather sports center for the University of Colorado in Greenwood Village, Colo.; the National Soccer Stadium in Toronto; and a tennis court dome for the Sportovni Klub Smichov in Prague in the Czech Republic.

K&S ASSOCIATES OF ST. LOUIS AWARDED $14.4 MILLION CONTRACT TO BUILD ARMY RESERVE TRAINING CENTER IN GRANITE CITY, ILLINOIS

New Center Will Accommodate 600 Reservists - Completion Set for Summer 2009

July 10, 2007, St. Louis, Missouri, The United States Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville District, has awarded a $14.4 million contract to K&S Associates, Inc. of St. Louis to build a new Army Reserve Training Center in Granite City, Illinois, about six miles northeast of St. Louis, to accommodate 600 reservists.

The new, 70,000-square-foot Training Center will include an Organizational Maintenance Shop (OMS), Area Maintenance Support Activity Building (AMSA), General Purpose Warehouse (GPW), Unheated Storage (UHS) Building and Potable Water Building (PWB).

Completion of the new Training Center, situated at the U.S. Army Charles Melvin Price Support Center near the Mississippi River Chain of Rocks Canal in the Tri-City Regional Port District, is scheduled for summer 2009. Granite City is located in Illinois Madison County.

The project architect for the new Training Center is RSP Architects, Ltd. of Minneapolis, Minnesota, assisted by EVS, Inc. of Eden Prairie, Minnesota (civil); Van Sickle, Allen & Associates, Inc. of Plymouth, Minnesota (structural); Damon Farber Associates, Inc. of Minneapolis (landscape); and Gausman & Moore of St Paul, Minnesota (MEP).

Thomas J. Kraska, president of K&S Associates, Inc., said, Our entire team is very proud to be part of this important construction project which will support the mission of the U.S. Army Reserves.

The Corps of Engineers™ Louisville District, one of the more diverse districts in the U.S., has both a civil works and military construction mission. Its civilian workforce includes professional engineers, architects, planners, economists, biologists and other specialists and support staff working in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio. The military construction mission supports U.S. Army, Air Force and Department of Defense facilities within 306,000 square miles in the five-state area. The civil works boundary encompasses nearly 76,000 square miles of the Lower Ohio River Basin.

K&S Associates, Inc. was founded in 1972. In addition to full-service general contracting, the company manages complete Design/Build projects and provides comprehensive construction management services for building projects in virtually every construction industry sector, including commercial/industrial, healthcare, military support, government, education, recreational and ecclesiastical.

K&S Associates, Inc. headquarters are at 516 Hanley Industrial Court, St. Louis, Missouri, 63144-1902.

For more information, please call Paul D. Sharkey, CFM, Director of Pre-Construction Services & Facilities, K&S Associates, Inc., at 314.647.3535 or visit the website www.ksgcstl.com.

Media relations contact for K&S Associates, Inc.: Jeff Dunlap at 314.993.6925.

Brochures:

The Tri-City Regional Port District has produced several brochures in order to highlight our activities. A few of these are listed below:

River's Edge Development Brochure - click here to download PDF

Multi-Lingual Brochure - click on a language below to download PDF