-
- FILLING OPEN SPACE IN SILICON MOUNTAIN TECHNOLOGY
PARK
-
-
 -
- The Butte Local Development Corporation's
most active business recruitment effort over the last year has been
the Silicon Mountain project.
The main goal has been to identify, inform, and convince companies
in the silicon/semiconductor industry of the competitive advantage
they can gain from locating in the vicinity of ASiMI near Butte.
The BLDC is a partner in this effort, working closely with Montana
Power Company, the Butte-Silver Bow government, and ASiMI.
The Silicon Mountain Partners have developed mailing lists and sophisticated
mailing materials to attract interest. Brochures that have been
mailed to prospective companies emphasize six major benefits of
relocating to Butte.
1.) Workers. The Butte area has a skilled workforce of about
5,000 potential employees who benefit from well-regarded schools
and a nationally recognized engineering university, Montana Tech.
2.) Power. Electricity is available at some of the cheapest
prices in the country and it is so reliable that the chance of an
outage is about once every 100 years.
3.) Land. About 1,300 acres of commercial land are still
available in the Silicon Mountain Technology Park in the vicinity
of ASiMI's new plant for $2,000 an acre.
4.) Transportation. Butte's location provides easy access
to two intercontinental rail carriers,two interstate highways, the
Port of Montana and a recently upgraded municipal airport that can
accommodate any size of air carrier.
5.) Water. A high mountain lake source of pristine,soft water
from snowmelt that can be delivered at a rate of as much as 12 million
gallons a day for one or many plants. The delivery system has already
received a Butte-Silver Bow TIFID $10 million dollar investment
to ensure reliable delivery.
6.) Infrastructure. Through TIFID #2, at least $50 million
has already been invested in power lines, fiber optic lines, gas,
water, and sewer lines, and newly paved roads. All of the mailers
emphasize the quality of life enjoyed in Butte due to its proximity
to mountains, trout-rich rivers, skiing and many other distinct
advantages that are considerations when individuals or companies
make a move.
The "Silicon Mountain" name for the project was suggested
by Toshio Akashi, the Chief Financial Officer of ASiMI. A variation
of California's Silicon Valley, the name Silicon Mountain combines
the fact that Butte is a great place to do business in the silicon-semiconductor
industry and also a great place to enjoy the quality of life that
such a location can afford.
The BLDC has targeted potential companies that will most likely
be making a decision to build new facilities in the near future
and might want to consider what Butte can offer as a location.
ASiMI CELEBRATES GRAND OPENING OF NEW
PROCESSING PLANT
-
Photo by Gregg Edelen.
-
Lt. Governor Judy
Martz speaks at the grand
opening of ASiMI's new polysilicon processing
plant near Butte in July.
-
-
- The grand opening of ASiMi's new
polysilicon processing plant near Butte was celebrated on July 10th
and 11th after months of intensive construction activity that in
itself was a major boost to the local economy, providing jobs for
thousands of workers.
The ceremonies to dedicate the new plant were attended by local
and state officials, including Butte native Lt. Governor Judy Martz,
and officers of Advanced Silicon Materials, Inc. (ASiMI), and ASiMI's
customer companies from around the world.
While Phase II of the project has been slowed somewhat by Asian
market declines that have slowed the demand for silicon in Pacific
Rim countries, there was still much to celebrate.
Phase I of the construction process was completed in late spring
and full production is underway with about 200 employees now working
in the plant. Phase II is now underway with some delays. Phase II
will be split into two segments. Phase IIa includes the full installation
of 10 new reactors which will be brought online when the market
improves for silicon. During Phase IIb, another 16 reactors are
being fabricated and brought to the Butte plant, but they won't
be brought online until market conditions permit production to profitably
accelerate.
The projected timeline calls for Phase II to run through the middle
of 1999. ASiMI projects that time will be slightly delayed due to
the market conditions, but expects to eventually reach the nearly
300 jobs and the projected $500 million dollar capital development
costs.
SINGING BUTTE'S PRAISES
AT SEMICON '98
-
- In July, for the second straight
year, a Butte economic development team attended SEMICON West 98,
the world's largest trade show for the semiconductor industry, which
was held in San Francisco from July 12 to 18.
The team was composed of Evan Barrett and Pam Haxby-Cote of BLDC,
Rody Holman of Butte-Silver Bow, John Murphy, Jim Smitham and Steve
Dee of the Montana Power Company and a team from ASiMI.
That conference provided an opportunity to tell companies from around
the world about Butte's potential as a new business location. The
Butte economic development team had brief meetings with 65 companies
that were previous targets and introduced themselves and Butte's
attractions to 23 new companies.
As a result, the previous target list has been updated and expanded
to include 115 companies with over 200 individuals within those
companies.This will provide the core target list for outreach efforts
in the coming year. BLDC Executive Director Evan Barrett estimates
that the tab for the Silicon Mountain effort in the first year amounted
to about $150,000 in hard and soft costs.
The volatile Asian market, where many of these companies find their
customers, will make them hold back from new capital investment
for at least the next 12 to 18 months, according to industry sources.
But then they will be prepared to proceed with aggressive growth
strategies as soon as the overall industry market improves.
"In one sense the capital investment delay is not harmful to
us," said Evan Barrett, BLDC Executive Director. "We want
a chance to get on the dance cards of as many of these companies
as we can so that when the music starts again, we will at least
have a chance to dance. This hiatus gives Butte time to get on their
dance cards."
-
- Photo by George Everett
Mercury Street Medical
-- one of the Butte businesses that expanded with BLDC's assistance
this year.
-
- RECENT
BLDC BUSINESS
DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
While the big projects such as the Silicon Mountain recruitment
and the smooth start up of ASiMI have been grabbing headlines, the
BLDC has been very busy over the last year encouraging and nurturing
smaller businesses and community development projects that are the
underpinnings of a diversified, healthy economy.
The BLDC has also been involved in large community projects and
has been busy responding to requests for loan assistance or land
from local businesses for help to start up or expand. The following
are projects and businesses the BLDC has helped with loans, land
and other assistance.
|
Business/Project
|
BLDC Activity
|
|
Butte Gardens
|
Major Planning Assistance
|
|
East Butte Development
|
Major Planning Assistance
|
|
Lady of the Rockies
Tram
|
Financial Planning
Assistance
|
|
Regional Jail/Prison
|
Financial Planning Assistance
|
-
Silverbow Creek
Greenway
|
Planning Help, Meetings
with State
|
|
Acoma Lounge and Restaurant
|
Loan for Building Renovations
for Start-up
|
-
Big Butte Compost
|
-
Loan for Machinery for
Start-up
|
|
Community Corrections
|
Loan for Building Renovations
for Expansion
|
|
Continental Public
Land Trust
|
Loan to Finance East Butte
Master Planning Effort
|
-
Kaufman Medical Clinic
|
Loan for Equipment for Expansion
|
-
Sheep Mountain Electric
|
Loan for Equipment for Expansion
|
|
Northern Construction
|
Land Sale for Expansion into
Montana
|
|
MYCOTECH
|
-
Land Option for Future
Expansion
|
|
US Jet
|
-
Land Option for Future
Expansion
|
|
Biggers Transportation
|
-
Land Sale for Expansion
|
BLDC BUSINESS REVOLVING LOAN FUND (RLF) AND INTERMEDIARY
RELENDING PROGRAM (IRP) UPDATE
The establishment of a large business development revolving loan
fund (RLF) to be managed by the BLDC is imminent with all funds
approved and all contracts now in place. The plan is to loan the
entire fund of $3.25 million to ASiMI first, and then loan ASiMI's
repayments to others.
Closing date for the loan is September 15. On October 15, ASiMI
will begin making monthly payments of $36,159 for a ten-year period.
These repayments will provide the seed capital to loan to new Butte
businesses and to help existing businesses to remain healthy or
to expand.
Loan preference will be given to businesses that attract new investment
in Butte -- basic sector businesses that hold the most promise to
create new jobs in the local economy. Retail businesses, for example,
will generally not be eligible for the loan funds. The smallest
loan amount will be $36,000. The BLDC expects to be able to loan
from this RLF starting in January of 1999.
U.S. Senator Max Baucus recently announced that the BLDC will receive
another $815,835 from USDA's Rural Development Intermediary Relending
Program (IRP), to go with the $1 million received earlier by the
BLDC and already loaned out.
New loans under the IRP can begin to be processed in October. The
largest loan from the IRP will be $250,000. Loans from the BLDC
from both the RLF and the IRP will generally be at 6 percent interest
and must be combined with owner equity and other debt (banks, etc.).
GREENING UP EAST BUTTE:
NURTURING BUTTE GARDENS
In 1973, Butte's beloved Columbia Gardens, including amusement park,
was sacrificed to expand open pit mining by the Anaconda Company.
Now, in a mixture of nostalgia for the fond memories of lush gardens
and amusement rides, the hope to hear laughing children once again,
and a keen desire to restore what was lost, a serious community
project is taking shape to bring back some of what made the Columbia
Gardens a place to play and relax for visitors and residents alike
for decades.
So far, under the planning efforts of Project Green, assisted by
the BLDC, about 300 citizens have volunteered about 10,000 hours
in the planning process for what is now called the Butte Gardens.
They organized into five major working groups for about six weeks
of intensive planning -- Amusement Area, Gardens and Groves, Ponds
and Water, Buildings and Structures, and Trails.
Additional input was sought by Project Green from local school children
about the design of the roller-coaster and a virtual reality ride.
A contest was held to recommend new rides for the park that elicited
400 responses from Butte students in grades 1 to 6.
As part of the student planning effort, six Butte students won tickets
to the Silverwood amusement park near Spokane, Washington. Each
has received a ticket to admit them to the park and some travel
and spending money for the excursion. Congratulations to the following
six students:
Molly Bentley, 2nd grade, Margaret Leary School
Emily Munday, 4th grade, Kennedy School
Ragan Carlson, 4th grade, Hillcrest School
Natalie Phillips, 5th grade, Hillcrest School
Kendra Hendricks, 6th grade, Longfellow School
Colton Walter, 2nd grade, Margaret Leary School
Project Green, working with the Butte media, will soon conduct a
community-wide contest to select a fitting permanent name for the
new park.
So far, the planning process has defined a place on the east side
of the Butte hill that will contain amusement rides, pavilions,
walking trails, an in-line skating rink and aquatic/ indoor ice
center, and a baseball stadium that can double as a concert venue,
along with many acres of grass, trees, ponds and streams.
The total cost of creating the Butte Gardens is estimated at about
$30 million dollars. Hopes are that the park can be partially funded
by the settlement for the Natural Resources Damage Lawsuit. Other
funding sources are being sought and there are initial efforts this
year to"green-up" the site. Landscaping including new
trees and infrastructure work by Butte-Silver Bow is in progress
around the Belmont Senior Center at the top of Continental Drive.
Additional landscaping and sidewalk work along Mercury Street nearer
the Belmont Gallows Frame is taking place now. Project Green provided
the final $2,500 to allow the water tower that once served Columbia
Gardens to be moved and placed just North of the Senior Center.
-
-
-
The Proposed Butte Gardens
BRINGING HOME THE OTHER KIND OF GREEN:
EAST BUTTE DEVELOPMENT
Visitors to Butte now see only about half of the city that once
graced the Hill. An area about equal to the size of the remaining
Uptown area that included Meaderville, Finntown, Dublin Gulch, McQueen,
the East Side and East Butte had most of its structures removed
to make way for the expanding Berkeley Pit beginning in the 1950's
and continuing into the 1970's.
Now a project is being developed in partnership with Butte Silver
Bow County and the Continental Public Land Trust, Inc. (CPLT) that
will bring new residential and commercial construction to the Butte
hill on a scale that hasn't been seen in the area for the last 75
to 80 years.
CPLT is the non-profit corporation created by MERDI to accept the
donation of over 3,000 acres of land from Dennis Washington in December
of 1997. Included in the donated land were hundreds of acres in
what used to be called East Butte - the area east of Arizona Street
above the railroad tracks.
BLDC loaned to CPLT the funds needed to commission a master plan
for East Butte from Swenson and Associates in Bozeman. The final
report is expected soon and the goal is to integrate the results
with the Butte Silver BowCounty's own Master Plan, undertake any
necessary zoning changes and undertake development as soon as possible.
So far, a willingness to invest in the development has been expressed
for a senior housing project near the Belmont Senior Center, a full-purpose
athletic club just west of the Senior Center, and other possible
developments.
A long term goal for helping encourage commercial development in
the area, is the creation of a new tax increment district that is
similar to, but separate from, the existing Uptown district overseen
by the Butte-Silver Bow Urban Revitalization Agency.
SUPPORTING THE SILVER BOW CREEK GREENWAY
The BLDC has long been and remains a strong proponent of implementing
the concept of a major Greenway along Silver Bow Creek between Butte
and Anaconda as part of the remediation efforts that are now in
full swing. Millions of dollars are being spent on remediation work
to clean up the aftermath of a century of hard rock mining and smelting.
With the settlement of the Natural Resource Damage lawsuit between
ARCO and the state of Montana, ARCO paid $80 million dollars to
the state of Montana for remediation and restoration of Silver Bow
Creek, correcting the damages done by past mining and smelting.
Before the settlement of the lawsuit the two-county Greenway Service
District spent half a million dollars to complete a 100-percent
design for a Greenway from Butte to the Warm Springs Ponds, using
funds contributed by ARCO. The Greenway plan would go beyond remediation
and cover what remains after the remediation work is done to make
the area available for recreation with about 25 miles of hiking,
biking and trails, and public parks.
Now, it is up to the state of Montana to implement the designed
Greenway by using part of the $80 million paid for Silver Bow Creek
cleanup by ARCO. The ongoing work with the Blacktail Creek footpath
south of the new Chamber of Commerce building on George Street has
dramatically demonstrated the potential impact that that larger
Greenway can have on the enhancement of recreational opportunities
for the region.
The BLDC believes that $21 million of the NRD settlement should
be allocated to complete the Greenway out of the $80 million already
earmarked for reclamation and restoration along the drainage from
Butte to Warm Springs Ponds. Of that amount $10 could be blended
into remediation efforts with an additional $11 million to complete
the Greenway.
In addition, the Greenway Service District needs a $3 million operating
endowment from the settlement to insure that the Greenway is properly
maintained over the next century.
The BLDC urges everyone to continue to express their support for
this important community project to Judge Paul G. Hatfield, ARCO
in Anaconda, Attorney General Joe Mazurek and Governor Marc Racicot
as they make crucial decisions about how to spend the settlement
of the recent lawsuit. The Silver Bow Creek Greenway should be funded
as part of any settlement decision.
Send your comments in support of the Silver Bow Creek Greenway to
the following addresses:
 -
-
Governor Marc Racicot
at Governor's Day activities in Butte
-
coordinated by the
BLDC. With the Governor are, from left to
-
right, Tom Waring,
Past Board President, Evan Barrett, Executive
-
Director, and Board
Executive Committee members John Murphy, Montana Power Co.,
Jack Lynch, Butte-Silver Bow, Irene Humber, Harrison Avenue Realty,
and Board President Larry Walter,
-
Norwest Bank.
-
-
|
- Chief Judge Paul G. Hatfield
U.S. District Court
P.O. Box 1529
Great Falls, MT 59403
Sandy Stash
ARCO
307 East Park Ave.
Anaconda, MT 59711
Attorney General Joe Mazurek
P.O. Box 201425
Helena, MT 59620
Governor Marc Racicot
State Capitol
Helena, MT 59620 |
- Let them know that you strongly support
the idea that the Greenway should be funded as part of any settlement
decision and be sure to tell them too that the Butte Gardens should
also be part of any Natural Resource Damages Lawsuit settlement.
- LETTER FROM THE BLDC BOARD PRESIDENT
-
This year completes my fifth year of service on the Butte Local
Development Board of Directors. As president, I have been fully
involved and have experienced first hand our organization's success.
We have provided loans to retain and expand local businesses and
have helped new business startups. This year the BLDC has funded
5 new loans for a total dollar amount of $582,400 and is currently
servicing 21 loans for a total dollar amount of $1,429,720.
The BLDC has approximately $1.3 million to loan to Butte businesses
between now and the end of 1999. As you can tell from these facts,
the BLDC is beginning to become a "mini-bank" for Butte's
small businesses.
It has been an exciting time with the effort to develop Silicon
Mountain and help ASiMI to smoothly make the transition to a major
employer in our community. While we will continue with our recruitment
efforts to attract new businesses like ASiMI to Butte, we realize
that the majority of our economic growth comes from within our own
community.
I would like to offer my best wishes to Irene Humber of Harrison
Avenue Reality who will take over as the BLDC's new president this
fall. My thanks to you as a member of the best community in the
world -- BUTTE.
Larry Walter
BLDC BOARD OF DIRECTORS
AND STAFF FOR 1997-1998
-
-
|
- Larry Walter
President
- Norwest Bank
-
- Irene Humber
Vice President
- Harrison Avenue Realty
-
- John Murphy Sec./Treasurer
- Montana Power Co.
-
- Tom Waring Past
President
- Montana Tech
-
- Bill Kebe Executive
Board
- Corette, Pohlman &
Kebe
-
- Jack Lynch Executive
Board
- Butte-Silver Bow
Rick Griffith
Bert Mooney Airport
Mike Kerns
Butte-Silver Bow
-
- Mike Kerschen
ASiMI
-
- Norm Lewis
- Montana Standard
Marilyn Maney
- AFL-CIO
Mary McMahon
MYCOTECH
-
- Bob Poore
Mother Lode
Theater
Bob Rodgers
St. James Hospital
-
- Gary Rowe
MERDI
BLDC Staff
Evan Barrett, Executive Director
Pam Haxby-Cote, Deputy Director
Ann West, Executive Assistant |
|
