A pair of state incentives are helping a St. Louis area construction company expand.
The Missouri Department of Economic Development is hoping to use incentives to encourage similar growth elsewhere.
Gov. Mike Parson and Michelle Hataway, acting director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development, appeared Monday with Clayco founder and executive chairman Bob Clark to announce the company’s $50 million investment and expansion in St. Louis.
Clayco is a real estate development, architecture, engineering and construction firm founded in 1984 in St. Louis. It employs more than 1,500 people in Missouri, according to a news release.
Parson said the expansion and creation of 400 new jobs is “a testament to our state’s skilled workforce, strong infrastructure and strategic location.”
“These strengths are what make Missouri’s economy successful,” he said, “even as we continue to make historic investments that are making the Show-Me state even stronger.”
Hataway said Clayco is investing in job creation and supporting industries critical to the state.
“As for the state’s involvement in continued growth, the Department of Economic Development offers programs to help businesses like Clayco grow, expand or locate in our great state,” she said.
Clayco is utilizing the department’s Missouri Works program and the Missouri Development Finance Board’s BUILD program. Missouri Works, a tax credit program to incentivize job creation, will provide more than $14 million as the company hires at least 400 new employees during the next six years.
The BUILD program, which offers incentives that can be applied to a company’s infrastructure or equipment expenses when expanding or locating in Missouri, will provide $3.6 million over 15 years.
Clark, Clayco’s founder, said the state’s support made an easy decision to expand in St. Louis even easier.
“We have projects in 45 cities across North America and I can absolutely say that Missouri is the easiest state to do business in,” he said. “Our employees want to be here, they want to stay here and we’ve been having terrific success recruiting people to the state of Missouri.”
Clark said state and local incentives will help Clayco stay competitive with other construction companies. The company recruits about a third of its workforce from Missouri University of Science & Technology, he added.
Missouri is an “economical place to do business,” Clark said, adding his employees don’t have difficulty affording a home to raise a family. “In some of these other communities, they’re very expensive.”
Parson said investments from major employers, like Clayco, are encouraging and a result of efforts to strengthen Missouri’s economy. Missouri companies have added more than 31,000 jobs so far this year and gained more than 83,000 jobs last year.
“Companies are choosing Missouri thanks to our inviting business climate and our focus on workforce development and infrastructure,” he said, noting the state’s 2.8 percent unemployment rate is lower than the national average.
Boeing, Missouri’s largest manufacturer, is considering a $1.8 billion expansion in St. Louis County. The state is offering more than $37.7 million worth of incentives to support the project, the Department of Economic Development announced in a news release Monday.
Parson said Missouri is also in the running for another company’s $1.5 billion investment.
“These are the kind of things that are happening in Missouri that have never happened before at a time like this,” he said. “I think it’s a lot of things put together; we’re proud of the work we did with the state government partnering with the private sector, and making sure you’re getting kids ready for the workforce of tomorrow.”
Julie Smith/News photo: Tribune Department of Economic Development acting Director Michelle Hataway, middle, looks on as Bob Clark, left, and Gov. Mike Parson exchange a handshake Monday following the press conference in which it was announced that Clark, founder and executive chairman of Clayco, announced the company will be investing millions of dollars into making St. Louis its business headquarters. Clayco is a firm specialiazing in architecture, engineering and construction. According to Clark, Missouri’s universities are top-notch and the company looks forward to hiring engineering degree graduates of Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla.