Business Assistance, Retention & Expansion

BizBAM meetings are continuing to be conducted. Currently, we are focusing on the manufacturing industry. If you are a manufacturer or know of a manufacturer who may want to participate in the program, please contact us. We hope to have a report on trends in the industry early next year.

C7 is in its third month of meetings, and early feedback has been positive. Communications Manager Brooke Weishaupt has been hard at work crafting business topic-specific newsletters that have been instrumental in background preparation for meetings. Some monthly meetings have lasted nearly five hours at the request of protégés finding every minute engaging and useful to their business needs. Way to go mentors and protégés!

For more information on these programs or other local business issues, please contact Chad Carson at (309) 452-8437 or chad@bnbiz.org.

New Business Recruitment & Development

We are beginning to develop our marketing plan for attraction and business recruitment for the 2008 year. Having launched many of our local business programs last year and with their development well on its way, the EDC is looking forward to developing opportunities to recruit new business to the community. This is a long process that involves marketing, travel and the cultivation of relationships with real estate, site location and development industries. Without a discussion of specific sectors, the basic methods for bringing new companies to the area include:

• Understanding our marketplace - What are our strengths and weaknesses in regards to a specific sector? Can we compete with other communities and regions in the basic costs of development, labor and transportation to market, taxes and business environment?

• Building awareness of the community with targeted sectors and consultants, real estate brokers and developers. This includes building relationships with key groups, developing familiarity tours, public relations strategies and some advertising.

• Developing a portfolio of sites, buildings and real estate assets that are ready to go or, in the parlance of the industry, shovel-ready. The private sector can benefit from the development of properties that can provide buildings and sites for the location of new companies and jobs here in the community. The EDC will help inform the local private development sector to make sure we have products available.

If you have interest in this activity or want to provide input about the type of companies we should try to recruit to the area, call Marty Vanags at (309) 838-9715 or email him at mvanags@bnbiz.org.

Community Improvement

The One Voice Task Force is in the process of choosing priority projects for FY09 budget appropriations. (See the Featured Service section below for project submission guidelines.)

As of this date, proposals have been received for the following projects:

1. Normal Multi-Modal Transportation Center
2. Lexington Sewer System
3. Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts
4. Illinois Wesleyan University Student Center

The Task Force will be voting on their recommendations in early December. The EDC Board of Directors will then make the final decision. 

*The next One Voice Task Force meeting will take place at noon on October 31st in the Community Room of the Bank of Illinois building.  IWU President Richard Wilson will be presenting information regarding the IWU student center.    

Congressional Staff Caravan:

Christina is working with Kevin Callis of State Farm and Aaron Quick of The Farnsworth Group to organize a bus tour of Bloomington-Normal to key Congressional state and DC appropriations staff. The purpose of the caravan is to showcase projects in our area that are vital to economic development, such as: the Central Illinois Regional Airport, Horizon wind farm, U.S. Cellular Coliseum, Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts, Uptown Normal and the Heartland Community College Workforce Development Center. The tour is tentatively planned for early January. We will be consulting with the Congressional staff to determine which date will work best for them.

For more information relating to the One Voice Task Force, community outreach or government relations program, please contact Marty Vanags at (309) 452-8437 or mvanags@bnbiz.org.

Program Oversight & Investor Relations

Recently the EDC staff met with our technology vendor to discuss how we can manage and account for data in a more precise and accurate manner. We are interested in developing a system that will provide hands-on management of clients and activities for staff and allow us to provide client information on our progress with your investment dollars in real time. How many clients do we have, who is looking at the community, how many new entrepreneurs have we helped and what is their impact on the community, and what does this all mean for our economy and our investors? Keep your eyes open for more information on this project soon.

Note: The EDC will have an end of the year Investors Roundtable in late November or early December. Watch for the date, time and place. We will give you a review of the past year and provide a glimpse into the future work of the EDC. Of course, your comments and input are welcome at any time of the year.

Call for One Voice projects

It’s that time again! The One Voice Task Force is looking for projects to support for the FY 09 fiscal budget. In March, the OVTF will be going to Washington, D.C. to advocate for funding of our priority projects. Last year, three out of the four One Voice projects received federal and state funding requests. Those projects include: Normal Multi-Modal Transportation Center, the Bloomington Cultural District and the McLean County Business Incubator.

For a project to be considered it must meet the following criteria:

• Already have a formal request for funds to the federal or state legislators
• Economic impact in McLean County
• Improve the quality of life

All projects must be submitted to the EDC no later than December 1st, 2007. For more information, please contact Marty Vanags at mvanags@bnbiz.org or (309) 452-8437.

Hundman Lumber

Hundman Lumber Companies is a family-owned business serving contractors and do-it-yourself customers, building materials and construction firms for over 25 years. The company has experience providing building material packages for apartment complexes, hotels, medical centers, retail strip centers, retirement facilities and various types of office buildings. The leader of Hundman Lumber Companies is Mike Hundman, whose father, Richard, started the business in 1950 as a lumberyard in Downs. Mike, who has managed the firm since 1974, works in the company’s main office in Bloomington.

As a family-owned business, the company takes pride in being different from the sales-focused big box home centers and building materials suppliers. According to the locally owned and managed company, they treat customers based on a family attitude of helping, and the stores in Bloomington-Normal and throughout Illinois are more than just stocking products. Their idea of customer service is much more than gaining sales; they focus on relationships and building their community ties.

Proof of Hundman Lumber's continued commitment to community and helping has included a charity hole at the annual Marc First (formerly the Marc Center) golf outing since 2001. Each year, Hundman Lumber has matched the amount donated by participants, resulting in a total of more than $14,000 donated to local charities in the past seven years - not so much a do-it-yourself philosophy when it comes to community involvement . Hundman Lumber is a long-established asset to the individuals, businesses and charities in Bloomington-Normal. 

Learn more about Hundman Lumber.

11.5 acres of land located next to new Home Depot and across Veterans Parkway from Menards. High-traffic area just off of I-55 with potential for major big-box development. Asking $1,900,000. 

Contact: Coldwell Banker Commercial, 309-662-3377.

Learn more about our building and sites locator.

Town of Normal

One cannot mention the Town of Normal these days without talking about the construction. In case you’ve been living under a rock, the Uptown area of Normal has begun its transformation into the 21st century, with over $230 million in investment expected over the next five years. 

First to be completed was the new Bank of Illinois building located at 200 W. College Ave. The construction site next to the new bank building will be a six-story parking structure complete with street-level retail and upper-level condo units. One Main Development broke ground on the first of its three mixed-use buildings this past month, with an estimated completion date of summer 2008. The new Marriott Hotel and Conference Center has begun to take shape as well. Outside of the Uptown region, construction on the new shopping center at Constitution Trail at Raab and Main is also underway. 

Normal has undertaken some ambitious plans for the future and remains a committed partner to the EDC.  For more information on Normal’s many new projects, please click here.

EDC starting Toastmasters International group

The EDC is starting a Toastmasters International group. At Toastmasters, members learn better communication skills by speaking to groups and working with others in a supportive environment. At each meeting, members give impromptu and prepared speeches and receive constructive evaluation from their peers.

Toastmasters helps employees give better sales presentations, improve their management skills, work better with other employees, effectively develop and present ideas, offer construction criticism and accept criticism more objectively.

The EDC will be holding a demonstrational meeting on Tuesday, November 6th at 5:30 p.m. in the Bank of Illinois community room (4th floor). At this meeting, potential members will get to see a shortened version of a regular meeting. We will also be discussing the next steps in the process, such as electing interim officers, setting up meeting dates/times, etc. If you are interested in attending the meeting, please contact Brooke Weishaupt at (309) 452-8437 or brooke@bnbiz.org. To learn more about Toastmasters, visit www.toastmasters.org.

Request for participants in ISU exporting project

For the third year a team of ISU students will be working with Illinois companies interested in exporting their products to new markets abroad. Under the management of an ISU professor with international professional business experience the team will perform the following:

• Develop a detailed export marketing plan for a specific overseas market
• Travel to the target market for 30 days to research the market
• Identify and meet with potential customers and distributors in the target market
• Identify additional opportunities for exporting

A federal grant will subsidize the bulk of costs associated with this program. Illinois companies interested in this program would be expected to pay a tax deductible fee between $2,000 - $3,000. This is a great way to leverage federal funds, as it would cost about $15,000 to develop an export marketing plan and send a team overseas for 30 days to research a new market.

If you have a product that you think has considerable demand overseas and are interested in participating in this program, please contact Professor Iris Varner at izvarner@ilstu.edu or
(309) 438-7843.

Bloomington-Normal ranked 6th Techiest Metro Area

In its list of the top 10 techiest metro areas, Computerworld has ranked Bloomington-Normal No. 6. The rankings were based on the percentage of the population employed in the computer field. State Farm, Illinois State University, Mitsubishi and other employers had a large impact on the survey results.

Click here to read the full article.