urbanSTL

Hudson's Bay Co. Relocated jobs to Downtown St. Louis from Toronto

Hudson’s Bay Co., one of Canada’s biggest retailers, said today it is about to present its expanded information technology services operation in downtown St. Louis.

The relocation from Toronto means the addition of more than 130 jobs at the company's IT center at 500 North Broadway, HBC said. Hudson's Bay Co. already has its Lord & Taylor IT center in the building.

Full story:
http://www.stltoday.com/business/column ... a1f9c.html

dredger wrote:So LMI move people here or people move to Kansas City or does the State of Kansas swoop in with a big tax break deal?

Gone Corportate, Couldn't help think of the border wars as soon as I got to Kansas City in the article and the PD article in the business section today. Kansas spending Missouri two to one according to article and wonder how long it took Kansas State Officials to call LMI this morning.

Missouri company gets $5 million to move 1 mile

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/miss ... 63946.html

Dredger: I had read that article as well, and was pretty disgusted myself. That said, these are entirely coincidental occurences. LMI Aerospace's acquisition of Valent Aerostructures was done exclusively as a business deal between private sector entities. In fact, Valent's HQ is in Kansas City, MO, so the State of Kansas was totally not involved. Going forward, it can be anticipated that the STL Metro Area will recognize an increase in employment from the accrual of KC-based employees of Valent Aerostructures moving to the LMI Aerospace HQ.

That it did not involve the MO-KS Border War doesn't take away from the significance of the Border War itself. But, it has nothing to do with STL-related mergers or acquisitions. Corporate subsidies for businesses, including subsidies available from the State of Missouri and the MO-KS Border War... could better be discussed in a new thread?

insomniacafe wrote:Hell, AMC got $36 million to move to the Kansas side and create not one single new job. And were then bought out by a foriegn company less than six months later. Kansas is out of control when it comes to corporate welfare. it's one thing if you're pulling in companies from Tulsa or Chicago or something, but millions of dollars to create a net of zero jobs in the metro is short sighted, and if I were a Kansas taxpayer I'd be a damn tizzy over it.

Kansas is going to be a wasteland before too long if they keep it up. KC Bus Journal just had an article where Governor Brownback desperately needs help from the legislature to cover the gap from his huge income tax reduction. Fools.

Unfortunately, Kansas City metro also lost this week Layne Christensen - a $1-billion drilling firm.

Layne Christensen is moving from suburban Mission Woods, Kansas to The Woodlands, Texas (suburban Houston).

States - particularly Missouri - need to look into what Texas is doing to lure firms from around the country to Dallas and Houston.

Missouri must learn to compete harder.

pat wrote:On a related issue, they talked about Texas's and Gov. Perry's successes in luring businesses to their state. Instead of going after an entire corporation, they focus on companies looking to expand and offer incentives to that company for expanding in their state. I thought it was pretty interesting and a method that MO should follow.

With St. Louis's low cost of living, you think it would relatively cheap for a company to expand here. Now its not a growing area necessarily, but we do have certain industries. Offer state tax incentives for businesses that expand here, and I think we could see some success. Especially with data centers and life sciences.

I missed this posting earlier. While St. Louis is no Houston, St. Louis is also a big center for energy.

Unfortunately, there is no concerted effort, or so it seems, by local leaders to promote St. Louis as a "Center for Energy".

Just as the financial services community in St. Louis is gearing up to lure more jobs to St. Louis by promoting current assets and talent, I believe if St. Louis and the RCGA promoted St. Louis as a "diversified" energy center, the region could potentially attract more energy sector jobs.

Diversified Energy and Suppliers
Emerson Electric, $24-billion firm
Aegion, $1-billion
Belden
Graybar
CooperBussman

Coal & Electric Companies
Ameren Energy, $8-billion firm
Peabody Energy, $7-billion firm
Arch Coal, $4-billion firm
Patriot Coal, $3-billion firm
Foresight Energy, $600-million firm
Armstrong Energy, $250-million firm

Oil & Gas
The LaClede Group (Note: Never understood why this company hasn't grown through acquistions)
Apex Oil, $3.6-billion
Center Oil, $4.5-billion

Solar
MEMC/SunEdison (Monsanto Electronic Materials Corporation), $2.7-billion firm

Alternative Energy
Abengoa Bioenergy (U.S. Headquarters)
Future Fuel

Water
American Water Missouri (St. Louis)
American Water Illinois (Belleville)

Miscellaneous
Schneider Electric USA Technology Center

Bissinger's acquires Bochner Chocolates of Iowa
Sources:
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/morn ... a=handmark
http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... 75082.html

STL can recognize an increase in net employment by 40 new workers. It is being considered a strategic acquisition, noting how Bochner is known for its use of advanced technologies manufacturing processes. With this acquisition, it can be anticipated that Bissinger's will be looking to expand their total facilities, i.e. build a new building or rent more space.

^It's ironic how I mentioned LaClede's lack of growth just a week or so ago, then LaClede goes out and purchases two gas companies.

This is their first major purchases in quite some time. I can see LaClede expanding even more.

This is more proof that St. Louis is becoming a true energy center.

I'm jumping the gun a bit, but I hope LaClede becomes large enough to need a new (high-rise) building downtown.