FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 24, 2005
For more information contact:

Shawn Reese, Wyoming Business Council
Phone: 307.777.2813

Tom Lacock, Wyoming Business Council
Phone: 307.777.2834

State Loan and Investment Board approves Business Ready Community Grants

CHEYENNE - The Wyoming State Loan and Investment Board (SLIB) met yesterday, June 23 in Cheyenne, at which time they approved several Business Ready Community Grants. Applications for those grants are accepted and recommended to the SLIB board by The Wyoming Business Council.

Wyoming Business Council CEO, Tucker Fagan, presented the recommendations to the SLIB board, which is made up of the five highest-ranking elected officials in the state.
“I think this latest round of applications shows the state and communities recognize the need for infrastructure to grow the businesses in Wyoming,” Fagan told the board.

Discussion on the projects was brief with Secretary of State Joe Meyer posing questions about projects and applications from Laramie, Greybull and Gillette. All projects were then unanimously approved.

Among the projects approved were:

• Laramie County approved for a $1.5 million grant for the North Range Industrial Park. Laramie County will construct water and road infrastructure within the new 500+ acre industrially zoned North Range Business Park.
• Laramie approved for a $1.2 million grant for a new wastewater collection system. The city of Laramie was awarded grant funding to alleviate sewage flooding risks posed by the development of a new convention center, commercial area and two hotels.
• Mountain View approved for a $1.875 million grant for Park View Place Development. This phased project will involve the purchase and development of 10+ acres of commercial real estate and construction of two buildings.
• Sweetwater County approved for a $1.3 million grant for Western Wyoming Community College Educational Development Infrastructure. Sweetwater County and Western Wyoming Community College will build a compression technology lab at the Rock Springs Campus.
• The city of Torrington was awarded $1.5 of Business Ready Community funds for the purchase of approximately 10 acres for the Torrington Industrial Park and construction of a 33,750 square foot building that will be owned by the Goshen County Economic Development Corp. and leased to Heartland BioComposites, LLC, a start-up manufacturer of composite construction materials made from wheat straw and plastic.
• The town of Greybull will receive $571,769 of Business Ready Community funds for the purchase of and renovations to an existing 4,000 square foot building, which will host a 38-station call center for a research firm, Wyoming Call Center.
• Kemmerer will receive $598,100 of Business Ready Community funds for the construction of a 7,800 square foot building in their downtown that will be leased to the American Family Entertainment Center for its expansion.
• Weston County and the Weston County Development Corp. was awarded $473,600 of Business Ready Community funds for road construction within the Upton Regional Industrial site.
• The city of Rawlins was approved for a $234,900 grant for to pave all unpaved streets in their industrial park.
• The city of Riverton received $621,000 of Business Ready Community funds to develop an 80-acre site adjacent to the Riverton Regional Airport.
  Fagan thanked Mountain View, Rawlins and Riverton for readjusting their projects to spread available funding to more communities.

To date 45 Business Ready Community Grants have been awarded totaling $45 million. Twelve of these grants were awarded at today’s meeting totaling $12,955,022.

The mission of the Wyoming Business Council is to facilitate the economic growth of Wyoming. For more information, please visit the Web site at www.wyomingbusiness.org.

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