Less than a week after Greensburg’s City Council agreed to extend a Letter of Intent to California-based custom-home builder Xtreme Structures to facilitate the corporation’s location of a 50-acre manufacturing complex on what is currently the City’s airport on the east edge of town, City Administrator Steve Hewitt told The Signal he’s looking to formally announce at Wednesday evening’s council work session the formation of a four-member task force that will serve as “the entity that makes sure the details of this project are worked out to both sides’ satisfaction and are carried out as intended.”
Commenting on the fast-moving development last Thursday and Friday, Hewitt said the task force would likely be made up of himself, Mayor Bob Dixson and City Attorney Gordon Stull, as well as at least one representative of Xtreme, likely President Tim Schmidt.
“This task force will lay out deadlines, establish guidelines and make sure each side’s needs are being met in a timely fashion,” Hewitt said by phone. “It will take care of the accountability aspect of this project.”
Hewitt also said the task force will likely meet bi-weekly, often by video conferencing and serves a “very important purpose in keeping the council and community updated regularly on what’s happening with Xtreme locating a plant here.”
Hewitt further said he hopes to have a rough draft of the Letter of Intent for council to peruse Wednesday night, though he was yet to receive all of Schmidt’s input for the document as of early Friday afternoon.
While negotiations for the location of such a large manufacturing concern as Xtreme would “typically take two years,” Hewitt said both the City and Schmidt realize this is “not a typical situation.” In short, Hewitt said it’s Schmidt’s goal to be “pouring concrete for the plant within 120 days” in order to have the base down “before cold weather sets in so they can be up and running within 300 days.”
The sense of urgency is a state of mind for both parties, Hewitt saying Extreme wants to “be up and producing homes as soon as possible in order to get a revenue flow going as quickly as they can. To have a good revenue start they need to get up and going sooner rather than later.”
As for Greensburg, Hewitt describes his City’s position as “desperate,” explaining his community is “still very vulnerable simply because we still have very little here right now in they way of jobs or a tax base. We’ve got new homes going up all over the place, new stores starting to appear, government putting up new buildings, plans for a new hospital and school getting done, but now we need economic development to go along with that. We need jobs and we need them now.”
Schmidt indicated last Monday his new plant would be looking for 30 to 35 workers in its initial wave of hiring, that could take place as early as next spring. Hewitt said his understanding is that the Xtreme plant could eventually employ as many as 200 workers.
“Of course, that’s long term,” Hewitt said, “and it depends on future contracts and expansion into the housing markets of regional cities. That will take time, but it’s a real possibility.”
While it’s yet to be determined which 50 of the airport’s 72 acres would be devoted to the new plant, Hewitt said he’d favor the manufacturing facility being centered toward the south end of the acreage, where the Kiowa County Gun Club is located. Hewitt stated, however, it’s his intent to build Xtreme’s plant around the gun club.
“We’re planning to work around the gun club and I’ve communicated that to Tim, and he’s willing to work with us on that,” Hewitt said.
While renowned designer John Picard wasn’t at Monday’s council meeting, and hasn’t, in fact, been in Greensburg for some time, his influence can now be seen to have been at work behind the scenes in brining about the very real possibility of Xtreme’s location of a second plant in Greensburg.
Seated next to Schmidt at the council meeting and taking a turn to speak himself on a couple of occasions was Eric Clifton, Vice President of Sustainable Business Development with Newland Communities, a privately owned company known for creating residential and urban mixed-use planned communities—22 of them, in fact, in 14 states. As a leading home and community developer, Newland is, in Hewitt’s terms, the primary financial supporter of Xtreme and its move to Greensburg.
Clifton was one of the dozen or so anonymous executives Picard flew into Greensburg the first week of February and later hosted at the February 6 town hall meeting. He was the only mystery executive Picard called to the lectern to stand beside him that evening, putting his arm around him at one point, albeit referring to him only as “Eric”.
Picard introduced Clifton to Hewitt before that town hall meeting, indicating he was someone “connected with the possibility of a factory being built in Greensburg.” According to Hewitt, Clifton was in town five months ago to “gauge for himself and (for Schmidt) our town’s determination (to recover) and commitment to the green movement.” Picard’s connections in the business world—particularly the environmentally conscious business world, had, in Hewitt’s mind, a “big role in bringing Eric to the table.”
Clifton apparently liked what he saw in February, in light of Schmidt telling council Monday night that he was interested in building a second factory in Greensburg because of the community’s early on commitment to rebuilding green.
“They’re (Schmidt and Clifton) intrigued by how Greensburg’s come back so far, and how committed we’ve been to doing that in a green way,” Hewitt said. “But we’ve got to stay on track. We’ve got to stay committed to being green as a community.” A brief give-and-take between Hewitt and Schmidt during Monday’s meeting centered on Xtreme’s expectation of Greensburg continuing down a green path, as evidenced by the following exchange:
Hewitt: Do we need a consistent commitment to green in building codes to keep you interested?
Schmidt: Definitely. You need to be the example, the poster child for building and living consistently in a green way.
Hewitt: What I’m hearing you saying is that we’ve got to create a standard of sustainability that goes beyond governmental to commercial and residential construction.
Schmidt: You’re got a real opportunity here but it will take another step by you in terms of codes and zoning.
In the end, Hewitt identified two key reasons Schmidt and Clifton agreed Greensburg was the site for Xtreme’s second plant at this particular point in time. “Number one, they were only going to commit to coming to a thoroughly green community,” Hewitt said. “And so far, we’ve filled that bill. Number two, we had land available now once we decided to open up the airport to industrial development.
“I know it may seem like we’ve moved quickly on this and we have, but only because if we don’t, they’ll go somewhere else. This is a time to move quickly and aggressively.”
Even with such a quick response, however, Hewitt acknowledges Xtreme’s arrival is “no sure thing. There’s still a lot to be addressed, such as timing of financing and how quickly we can get infrastructure set up out there. There’s some tough factors to deal with in the next 90 days. Still, I’d say we’ve got a 70 to 80 percent chance of this going through. Certainly a lot better than 50/50.”
With the need for infrastructure development, including road construction to commence at a rapid pace, Hewitt was asked if the County might be approached to help with its available resources.
“Certainly we want to keep the County involved because this is going to benefit the whole county, not just Greensburg,” he said. “We’d like to see County resources utilized if that’s possible, if that can be worked out, because this is going to be a very large facility. It’s going to be huge.”
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Less than a week after Greensburg’s City Council agreed to extend a Letter of Intent to California-based custom-home builder Xtreme Structures to facilitate the corporation’s location of a 50-acre manufacturing complex on what is currently the City’s airport on the east edge of town, City Administrator Steve Hewitt told The Signal he’s looking to formally announce at Wednesday evening’s council work session the formation of a four-member task force that will serve as “the entity that makes sure the details of this project are worked out to both sides’ satisfaction and are carried out as intended.”
Commenting on the fast-moving development last Thursday and Friday, Hewitt said the task force would likely be made up of himself, Mayor Bob Dixson and City Attorney Gordon Stull, as well as at least one representative of Xtreme, likely President Tim Schmidt.
“This task force will lay out deadlines, establish guidelines and make sure each side’s needs are being met in a timely fashion,” Hewitt said by phone. “It will take care of the accountability aspect of this project.”
Hewitt also said the task force will likely meet bi-weekly, often by video conferencing and serves a “very important purpose in keeping the council and community updated regularly on what’s happening with Xtreme locating a plant here.”
Hewitt further said he hopes to have a rough draft of the Letter of Intent for council to peruse Wednesday night, though he was yet to receive all of Schmidt’s input for the document as of early Friday afternoon.
While negotiations for the location of such a large manufacturing concern as Xtreme would “typically take two years,” Hewitt said both the City and Schmidt realize this is “not a typical situation.” In short, Hewitt said it’s Schmidt’s goal to be “pouring concrete for the plant within 120 days” in order to have the base down “before cold weather sets in so they can be up and running within 300 days.”
The sense of urgency is a state of mind for both parties, Hewitt saying Extreme wants to “be up and producing homes as soon as possible in order to get a revenue flow going as quickly as they can. To have a good revenue start they need to get up and going sooner rather than later.”
As for Greensburg, Hewitt describes his City’s position as “desperate,” explaining his community is “still very vulnerable simply because we still have very little here right now in they way of jobs or a tax base. We’ve got new homes going up all over the place, new stores starting to appear, government putting up new buildings, plans for a new hospital and school getting done, but now we need economic development to go along with that. We need jobs and we need them now.”
Schmidt indicated last Monday his new plant would be looking for 30 to 35 workers in its initial wave of hiring, that could take place as early as next spring. Hewitt said his understanding is that the Xtreme plant could eventually employ as many as 200 workers.
“Of course, that’s long term,” Hewitt said, “and it depends on future contracts and expansion into the housing markets of regional cities. That will take time, but it’s a real possibility.”
While it’s yet to be determined which 50 of the airport’s 72 acres would be devoted to the new plant, Hewitt said he’d favor the manufacturing facility being centered toward the south end of the acreage, where the Kiowa County Gun Club is located. Hewitt stated, however, it’s his intent to build Xtreme’s plant around the gun club.
“We’re planning to work around the gun club and I’ve communicated that to Tim, and he’s willing to work with us on that,” Hewitt said.
While renowned designer John Picard wasn’t at Monday’s council meeting, and hasn’t, in fact, been in Greensburg for some time, his influence can now be seen to have been at work behind the scenes in brining about the very real possibility of Xtreme’s location of a second plant in Greensburg.
Seated next to Schmidt at the council meeting and taking a turn to speak himself on a couple of occasions was Eric Clifton, Vice President of Sustainable Business Development with Newland Communities, a privately owned company known for creating residential and urban mixed-use planned communities—22 of them, in fact, in 14 states. As a leading home and community developer, Newland is, in Hewitt’s terms, the primary financial supporter of Xtreme and its move to Greensburg.
Clifton was one of the dozen or so anonymous executives Picard flew into Greensburg the first week of February and later hosted at the February 6 town hall meeting. He was the only mystery executive Picard called to the lectern to stand beside him that evening, putting his arm around him at one point, albeit referring to him only as “Eric”.
Picard introduced Clifton to Hewitt before that town hall meeting, indicating he was someone “connected with the possibility of a factory being built in Greensburg.” According to Hewitt, Clifton was in town five months ago to “gauge for himself and (for Schmidt) our town’s determination (to recover) and commitment to the green movement.” Picard’s connections in the business world—particularly the environmentally conscious business world, had, in Hewitt’s mind, a “big role in bringing Eric to the table.”
Clifton apparently liked what he saw in February, in light of Schmidt telling council Monday night that he was interested in building a second factory in Greensburg because of the community’s early on commitment to rebuilding green.
“They’re (Schmidt and Clifton) intrigued by how Greensburg’s come back so far, and how committed we’ve been to doing that in a green way,” Hewitt said. “But we’ve got to stay on track. We’ve got to stay committed to being green as a community.” A brief give-and-take between Hewitt and Schmidt during Monday’s meeting centered on Xtreme’s expectation of Greensburg continuing down a green path, as evidenced by the following exchange:
Hewitt: Do we need a consistent commitment to green in building codes to keep you interested?
Schmidt: Definitely. You need to be the example, the poster child for building and living consistently in a green way.
Hewitt: What I’m hearing you saying is that we’ve got to create a standard of sustainability that goes beyond governmental to commercial and residential construction.
Schmidt: You’re got a real opportunity here but it will take another step by you in terms of codes and zoning.
In the end, Hewitt identified two key reasons Schmidt and Clifton agreed Greensburg was the site for Xtreme’s second plant at this particular point in time. “Number one, they were only going to commit to coming to a thoroughly green community,” Hewitt said. “And so far, we’ve filled that bill. Number two, we had land available now once we decided to open up the airport to industrial development.
“I know it may seem like we’ve moved quickly on this and we have, but only because if we don’t, they’ll go somewhere else. This is a time to move quickly and aggressively.”
Even with such a quick response, however, Hewitt acknowledges Xtreme’s arrival is “no sure thing. There’s still a lot to be addressed, such as timing of financing and how quickly we can get infrastructure set up out there. There’s some tough factors to deal with in the next 90 days. Still, I’d say we’ve got a 70 to 80 percent chance of this going through. Certainly a lot better than 50/50.”
With the need for infrastructure development, including road construction to commence at a rapid pace, Hewitt was asked if the County might be approached to help with its available resources.
“Certainly we want to keep the County involved because this is going to benefit the whole county, not just Greensburg,” he said. “We’d like to see County resources utilized if that’s possible, if that can be worked out, because this is going to be a very large facility. It’s going to be huge.”
