FEDA to erect shell building on 227th

By Andy Hallman, Ledger news editor

Fairfield Economic Development Association plans to build a 30,000-square-foot shell building on 227th Street.

The United States Department of Rural Development awarded a grant to Access Energy Cooperative for a shell building in the Fairfield Business & Industrial Park. Once the grant is received, Access Energy Cooperative will loan the grant money of $300,000, plus $60,000 in matching funds, to the Fairfield Economic Development Association for construction of the shell building.

Once the building is sold and the loan has been paid back, the money will become part of the Access Energy Cooperative Revolving Loan Fund to loan out to other local economic development projects.

FEDA executive director Josh Laraby noted, 'Access Energy Cooperative has been a vital partner in the new business park and shell building's development, with their assistance on the sewer expansion, construction of the 3-phase electrical service to the park, and now financial assistance with the shell building project.”

The City of Fairfield, Jefferson County, Fairfield Economic Development Association, Access Energy Cooperative, and Northeast Missouri Electric Power Cooperative are all members of a 28E Agreement to build a shell building designed to attract new businesses or assist an existing business with expansion.

FEDA owns 61 acres of land along 227th Street, which it purchased in the spring of 2015 to build a business and industrial park. Laraby explained that the existing industrial park on the west side of Fairfield is nearly full.

Laraby said the location is great because it's at the intersection of two major highways, Highway 1 and Highway 34. FEDA installed sanitary sewer to the industrial park in 2016 with aid from Access Energy Cooperative's revolving loan fund. Access Energy is also supplying three-phase electricity to the park.

227th Street was paved this summer courtesy of a RISE grant from the Iowa Department of Transportation. The grant, which stands for Revitalize Iowa's Sound Economy, paid for 50 percent of the cost of paving. The city and council each paid 25 percent.

Laraby said the shell building will be 300 feet long and 100 feet wide, 30 feet tall with a single-sloped roof. This design will allow it to expand to the north and to the east.

Laraby attributes the successful grant application and partnerships in the 28E to FEDA's history with shell buildings. The association built one in the 1980s in the industrial park on the west side of town. That building incubated three businesses that are still here today: TrafFix Devices, H & H Mold and Fairfield Industries. Eventually, TrafFix acquired the whole building, and the other two businesses found other homes. Those three businesses combined employ more than 150 people, Laraby said.

The new shell building is expected to be complete by fall 2019. It will sit on a 3-acre parcel of land.

'Our goal is to bring new companies to town and add high-quality jobs,” Laraby said. 'Fairfield has a strong manufacturing backbone in addition to a strong healthcare sector.”