FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 19, 2007

For more information contact:
Steve Achter, Investment Ready Communities Director
Wyoming Business Council
Phone: 307.777.2811

Rachel Girt, Manager, Marketing & Public Relations
Wyoming Business Council
Office: 307.777.2851 Cell: 307.631.4681               
E-mail: rachel.girt@wybusiness.org

 State Lands and Investment Board to decide on Business Ready Community Grants

CHEYENNE – The State Lands and Investment Board (SLIB) will decide on 13 Business Ready Community Grants during their meeting at 8 a.m. on June 21 in room 1699 of the Herschler Building in Cheyenne.

Recommendations on the 13 Business Ready Community Grants were made by the Business Council’s Board of Directors during their meeting in Jackson on May 30. By statute, those recommendations are forwarded to SLIB for a final decision. SLIB is made up of the Governor, the Secretary of State, the State Treasurer, the State Auditor and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The following grant requests were forwarded to SLIB with a positive recommendation from the Business Council’s Board of Directors:

• The city of Riverton is recommended for a Business Committed grant for $1.5 million for site work and infrastructure to serve the Wind River Job Corps Center. The federally funded portion of the facility, a $40,000,000 investment, will begin in 2008 and the facility will be operational in 2011.
   
  
• The Eastern Shoshone Tribe, in partnership with the community development organization, Wind River Development Fund, is recommended for a $2,635,706 Business Committed grant to construct a 15,000 square foot office building on a 2.6 acre lot located at the intersection of Hwy. 287 and Ethete Road in Fort Washakie.  A portion of the building will be leased to Shoshone Information Technology, Inc.
  
  
• Sheridan County is recommended for a Business Committed grant for $783,090 for infrastructure at the Sheridan County Airport Business Park to develop 16 lots.  Two businesses, Pearl Property Management and Phoenix Fuel, LLC will expand their businesses in the new portion of the business park.
  
  
• The Johnson County/Buffalo Commerce Joint Powers Board is recommended for a $1,485,000 grant to purchase a 25,000 square foot building built in 2003 and located on three acres in the Livestock Market Subdivision east of the Buffalo corporate limits. Twelve thousand square feet would be leased to a business start-up, Mountain Meadow Wool. 
  
  
• Lincoln County is recommended for a $70,241 Business Committed grant to install a fire hydrant and extend an 8-inch water main approximately one-half mile along Highway 89 north of Etna, an unincorporated community in northern Lincoln County. The project would provide adequate fire suppression necessary for the expansion of Teton Truss.
   
  
• The town of Pine Bluffs is recommended for a $1.5 million Business Committed Grant to construct an 8,500 square foot, single-story, building on five lots in downtown Pine Bluffs. The building would be owned by the town and leased to ABC Direct, a mortgage brokerage, as well as other future tenants.
  
  
• The city of Riverton, in partnership with IDEA, Inc., a community development organization, is recommended for a $3 million Business Committed grant to construct a 48,000 square foot heated and insulated oil rig manufacturing and service building to be owned by IDEA, Inc. and leased to R & R Rig Service.
  
  
• Albany County is recommended for a $3 million Business Committed grant to purchase a 14,000 square foot building to be constructed at the city-owned Turner Tract.  The project will facilitate the expansion of CBM Associates.  A five acre lot was recently sold by the city to Wyoming Community Development Group, LLC. Wyoming Community Development Group, LLC (WCDG) will condominiumize the five acre lot into five parcels.  The parcels would ultimately be developed into a five acre technology office park with multiple buildings.
   
  
• The Northern Arapaho Business Council is recommended for a $1,302,834 grant for highway widening and a wastewater lagoon to benefit a housing subdivision and possibly a future business park near Riverton. The original application was for $3 million, but the board decided to recommend partial funding.
  

The following projects were not recommended by the board, but will be presented before SLIB for final decision.

• The city of Sheridan is not recommended for a $2,767,500 Business Committed grant to construct a new 11,500 square foot early childhood education center to be operated by a child care provider and managed by the Sheridan Quality Child Care Initiative. 
  
  
• Laramie County was not recommended for a $1.5 million Community Readiness grant for a 15,000 square foot third floor addition to a new Health Sciences facility owned by Laramie County Community College (LCCC) and located on the college’s campus.
  
  
• The city of Cheyenne is not recommended for a $1.8 million Business Committed grant to construct a 374-foot long covered walkway elevated 20 feet above the ground and spanning from Cheyenne’s downtown parking garage, across Carey Ave, along the alley of the 200 block of West Licolnway/17th Street to Capitol Ave.  The project will facilitate the recruitment of a Marriott Townplace Suites Hotel.
  
  
• The city of Jackson and its community development organization, Imagine Jackson, are not recommended for a $1 million Community Readiness grant for the construction of a 4,000 square foot, two story facility on 0.9 acres in the South Park Service Center. 
  

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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