NEWTON — Jasper County is now home to a 367-acre industrial site directly connected to the Iowa Interstate Railroad, giving manufacturers access to rail lines that county officials hope will facilitate business growth and development of potentially thousands of jobs.
Jasper County officials announced the public-private partnership with the Iowa Interstate Railroad at a media event at the Jasper County Courthouse on Wednesday, July 30. The two entities hope to attract major businesses to the newly established Newton Rail Park, a project a news release called “a next-generation industrial rail development.”
“Opportunities like this do not present themselves very often,” said Brandon Talsma, chair of the Jasper County Board of Supervisors.
“This industrial site is poised to be the largest economic development opportunity in Jasper County for over 75 years and has a potential to have generational impact,” Talsma said. “It is our hope not just to attract businesses and employers here to Jasper County, but entities that will complement and support our history of manufacturing, our farmers and agricultural community.”
The entities recently acquired the farmland just northwest of Newton. The site will soon receive a certification from the Iowa Economic Development Authority, and officials hope it will draw major industrial entities to the area.
“The certification provides all that information that a company wants to have right away,” said Jeff Davidson, executive director of the Jasper County Economic Development Corp. “Today in the world of site selection, there’s a whole industry of professional site selectors that look for sites for their clients, for industry and businesses, and the ones that make the cut are those that they call ‘shovel ready.’”
Indeed, phase one of the Newton Rail park is ready for businesses to come in and start developing. Phase one is roughly 85-90 acres, according to Davidson. It is fully equipped with paved roads and utilities, giving potential developers everything they need to get on their feet.
“Somebody could be underway certainly within a matter of months in constructing something,” Davidson said. “The area that we just purchased that we’re here celebrating today will take a little bit longer.”
The project site is home to Iowa Interstate Railroad’s Newton Rail Terminal and a $9 million Renewable Energy Logistics Center, which primary serves wind energy companies. The architects behind the project will continue to build out the park as time goes on, depending on interest level and revenue.
“We want to have good, high-quality jobs,” Davidson said. “We have a history of that here in this community and we want to keep that going. We believe we will with the type of industries we’ve targeted.”
Models indicate that upon completion, the rail park could create thousands of jobs, said Jim Bowman, senior director of economic and site development at Iowa Interstate Railroad. These jobs would boost economic development not only for those workers, but for families
“The opportunity that we have here in Jasper County because we are working with Iowa Interstate Railroad is enormous,” Davidson said.
“It connects to the world,” Bowman added.
The rail site is situated just 2.8 miles north of Interstate 80 and 40 miles away from the Des Moines International Airport. Officials at the event were hopeful that the location, in addition to the certification from the IEDA, will draw in perspective manufacturers.
“You have to have a vision, you have to have a work ethic, you have to have perseverance in order to make opportunity become reality. And that’s what you’ve done,” said U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who represents Iowa’s 1st Congressional District. “You’ve given a great deal of hope to Newton and Jasper County. I could not be more proud of all the work you’ve done, and we are ready, willing and able on the federal level to assist you.”
Bowman said they hope to have the certification process complete by Labor Day. He said the space is a finalist with an unnamed company in Oklahoma seeking to build another plant.
Norah Judson is a reporter for the Register. Reach her at njudson@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Jasper County announces Newton Rail Park, an economic hub for central Iowa
Reporting by Norah Judson, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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