In 2021, the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce announced several large economic projects that were set to take place in the coming months. Now in 2022, these projects are starting to wrap up.
The St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce had many projects in the works, but there were four big ones highlighted in its 2022 Business Resource Guide. These projects included Clarios, LLC, Cereal Ingredients Inc., Daily’s Premium Meats and Van-Am Tool & Engineering.
Vice President of Economic Development Brad Lau said the chamber and the St. Joseph Economic Development Center have been working hard to bring in new jobs and maintain the ones that are already in the area.
“Bringing a new company into St. Joseph is great, but it really impacts people if you have a company close, so that’s what we’re trying to prevent with our economic development strategy,” Lau said. “Economic development is about job creation and a new capital investment and keeping those companies up and running.”
Clarios, LLC had a $25 million industrial development plan, which is expected to create more than 110 jobs and is currently wrapping up.
Cereal Ingredients Inc. built a facility in the Eastown Business Park in St. Joseph and invested $24 million. The company is expecting to bring in about 60 employees in the coming years.
Daily’s Premium Meats had a $9.5 million project to get new equipment that has wrapped up and has added 10 new jobs.
Van-Am Tool & Engineering has invested more than $350,000 in new equipment and cybersecurity as it expands into aerospace projects.
Chamber of Commerce CEO and President Natalie Redmond said she hopes the community realizes how important it is to care for current companies.
“I think it’s really important for us not only to look at the new companies as a way that we can expand and grow and create new jobs but also it’s really, really vital to our community that we appreciate and invest and continue to invest in the companies that are here and not take them for granted,” Redmond said.
Several other projects are moving forward in 2022, like Hillyard Inc.’s Downtown expansion.
Redmond said that nothing is a guarantee with any company in the area, so the community should be grateful for the ones that are here.
“Just because they’ve been here 100 years doesn’t mean they’ll always be here. And I think you know something that we always have to be mindful of,” Redmond said. “We have some fantastic companies, and I would just love to see St. Joseph continue to support and invest in them.”
Source: News Press Now