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Embarq Corporation , has decided to retain its corporate headquarters in Kansas. The company signed a new five-year lease that will keep about 1,100 employees on the Overland Park campus of Sprint Nextel Corporation. Another 350 employees will be shifted to Embarq facilities in Gardner, KS. Embarq is a local phone company that spun off from Sprint in 2006. The Kansas Department of Commerce worked with the Embarq team on an incentive offer to retain their company in Kansas. The company looked at a variety of options in the US, and we are very pleased that their decision was Kansas.
Kiewit Power Constructors Co. & Kiewit Power Engineers Co. , will build a new 150,000 sf, five story headquarters facility in Lenexa, Kansas. Both are subsidiaries of Omaha-based Kiewit Corp. The Business Recruitment team of the Kansas Department of Commerce worked with the officials of Kiewit and Lenexa over the last six months to bring this project to Kansas.
http://www.kansascity.com/business/story/681235.html
Smarter Agent, Inc. , has established their first regional office in Overland Park, where they will conduct both software development and marketing. Smarter Agent has innovative wireless technology for providing information on available homes or rentals to interested parties on their cell phones. The company was attracted to Overland Park by available talent formerly associated with Sprint / Nextel. While they initially expect to employ five, future growth should bring additional jobs.
BATS Trading, Inc., will locate open a new operation in Overland Park, Kansas. BATS is a market center built for the broker-dealer community with the mission of making markets better. The company was started in 2005 in a time when market innovation and technology leadership were at risk due to over consolidation in the ECN and Exchange industry.
The company is primarily engaged in furnishing physical or electronic marketplaces for the purpose of facilitating the buying and selling of stocks, stock options, bonds or commodity contracts. They are a business to business company.
Cretcher Heartland Incorporated , will locate its headquarters for its independent insurance agency and employee benefits office in Overland Park, Kansas. This new office location will employ more than seventy employees and generate over $4.0M in new capital investment.
Endure Energy, L.L.C. (“Endure”) , is a newly formed wholesale electricity and natural gas marketing company located in Overland Park, Kansas. With over 60 years of combined energy market experience, Endure Energy’s management will implement a three year strategic growth plan into the electricity and natural gas wholesale markets. Plans call for growth to over 35 employees that will eventually cover markets in the lower 48 states and Canada. Success will be driven by the dedication of Endure’s employees and their relationships with their customers, and a formal commitment to managing risk across the organization.
Quartz Mountain Aerospace, Inc (QMA), an aircraft manufacturer headquartered in Altus, Oklahoma, has signed a lease agreement with Coffeyville Industries. QMA will expand its aerospace manufacturing operations in Coffeyville by producing the sheet metal subassemblies necessary to support accelerated production of their Model 11E single engine piston aircraft at their Altus manufacturing facility.
During the past several months, the CEO/President of QMA, Mark Arciero and Vice President of Operations, Max Trimmell, have been meeting with representatives from the City of Coffeyville, the Montgomery County Action Council (MCAC), the State of Kansas, and Coffeyville Industries. This agreement will provide immediate manufacturing space for the aircraft maker to expand its manufacturing operations into the State of Kansas with the lease officially beginning on July 1, 2008.
QMA has received airworthiness certificates from the FAA on their first four Model 11E production aircraft and will be steadily ramping up production. QMA will begin immediate hiring to staff initial start-up operations within the leased space located on property currently operated by Morgan Trucking. This property consists of a shipping/receiving area and a separate annex for placement of aircraft assembly tooling.
QMA has expressed their appreciation of officials with the City of Coffeyville, the MCAC, the State of Kansas, Coffeyville Industries, and a special thanks to Dennis Pruitt, former Director of the MCAC.
The Coleman Company, , founded over 100 years ago in Kansas, is adding 55 new administrative jobs at their Wichita headquarters after merging with their Stearns, Inc. subsidiary of MN. The positions will include product engineering, design engineering and sales / marketing activities. The company will move existing staff or hire new employees within the first year.
Embarq Corporation , has decided to retain its corporate headquarters in Kansas. The company signed a new five-year lease that will keep about 1,100 employees on the Overland Park campus of Sprint Nextel Corporation. Another 350 employees will be shifted to Embarq facilities in Gardner, KS. Embarq is a local phone company that spun off from Sprint in 2006. The Kansas Department of Commerce worked with the Embarq team on an incentive offer to retain their company in Kansas. The company looked at a variety of options in the US, and we are very pleased that their decision was Kansas.
Tortoise Capital, an investment management firm, will retain and expand its business in Kansas. They will relocate operations to Leawood, Kansas and lease space in the Park Place Development. Expansion plans will accommodate current business and planned growth. Tortoise Capital provides investment management services to individuals and institutional investors. They manage four publicly traded closed end funds, select privately held funds and separately managed accounts.
Farmers Insurance , has chosen Olathe KS for a new customer service operation. Farmers will add 600 new customer service workers to its Olathe Kansas workforce and build a new $25 million facility scheduled to open in February 2009 in the I-35/119th Street Technology Park. Construction will start soon on the nearly 100,000 square foot structure. This is an expansion of the Farmers' Help Point unit and will boost the company's workforce in the Olathe business park to about 1,600 employees. Farmers Insurance is Olathe's largest private employer.
Columbia Elevator Products, of Port Chester NY has announced the purchase of Elevator Solutions International in Winfield KS. Columbia is a leading manufacturer of elevator cabs, doors and related equipment. They plan to invest up to $1,000,000 to upgrade ESI equipment, retrain workers, and expand operations. The 44 current employees will be retained and 16 workers will be added over the first three years (60 jobs total).
Engineered Air of Canada, broke ground on a new production facility in De Soto, Kansas, where its U.S. headquarters and manufacturing plant are located. The company is planning to add 170 jobs and invest $8.5 million in building and equipment to increase production capacity for HVAC equipment.
Hill's Pet Nutrition, has, after an extensive search process, chosen Kansas for another business operation. The company will build a new state-of-the-art dry pet food manufacturing facility in Emporia, KS. This new facility will employ 150 jobs and have a new capital investment of $160M. Hill's is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Colgate Palmolive Company.
Trimac Industries, is a contract manufacturer of washers and ovens. The company is relocating from out-of-state and leasing a facility in Bonner Springs, KS. They will bring 25 new jobs to Kansas and $1.2M in new capital investment in this new operation for the company.
Endres Processing , is a Minnesota-based animal nutrition company that utilizes consumer baking and food products and processes them into animal nutrition products for the livestock industry. They will locate a new operation to Kansas City, Kansas and lease a facility, creating 30 new jobs and $2.0M in new capital investment.
SH3, is a language translation company that works to translate documents in over 30 languages. They specialize in the translation of documents for industrial machinery applications, human resource or training manuals, and pharmaceutical and biomedical communications. They are a new business to Kansas and will bring 22 new jobs and almost $2.0M in new investment to Overland Park, Kansas.
Land o'Lakes/Purina Feed LLC, has purchased an existing feed mill in Russell, Kansas and is planning to create 12 new jobs and $16.61M in new capital investment related to this project. The mill will be dedicated to serving the dairy industry. They will modernize the facility upon purchase. The project was worked through a major site location firm in Chicago.
US Bank, is constructing a new data center facility in Olathe, KS. The project location was assisted by CB Richard Ellis out of Newport Beach, CA. The new operation will bring approximately 46 new employees to Kansas, along with $100M of new capital investment.
Kimberly Clark, a leading supplier of paper products, based in Irving, Texas will build a new 450,000 square foot distribution center in New Century, Kansas. The operation will have 60 employees and create $20M in new capital investment.
Park Electrochemical Corporation, out of Melville, New York, has chosen Newton, KS for a new manufacturing location of pre-preg composite materials for the aviation industry. This new operation will have 60 employees in two years and a capital investment of $15M.
Iowa Precast Company, based in Des Moines, Iowa is building a new manufacturing facility in Pleasanton, KS. The new operation will manufacture concrete products, specifically bridge beams and building foundations. The operation will employ 100 jobs in five years and create $4.3M in capital investment in the first year.
Jet Airwerks, LLC, president moved his family and business from Weston, FL to start a new aircraft component remanufacturing facility in Arkansas City, KS. The company will create 35 jobs and install $250,000 of new equipment.
Hawkeye Material Management, Inc., in Arkansas City, KS is expanding its aircraft parts distribution facility in Kansas. The expansion will bring 10 new jobs and $450,000 in new capital investment.
Pioneer Hybred, based in Ralston, IA, has chosen Lawrence, KS for a new bioscience lab for soybean research. The soybeans for the research will be grown in the Lawrence area.