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41 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, January 27, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Opportunities Moving to Southern Oregon? MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend December 17, 2004 Gordon Safley of Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development Inc. walks in the field along Antelope Road in White City where Amy�s Kitchen will expand its organic frozen foods business. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Amy’s on the way There’s room for California frozen food giant Amy’s Kitchen to expand into White City, thanks to a unanimous vote by the Medford City Council By GREG STILES Mail Tribune Quickly and quietly, the Medford City Council Thursday removed the final obstacle in bringing Amy’s Kitchen to the Rogue Valley, approving the sale of 50 acres in Whetstone Industrial Park for $350,000. The long-awaited deal solidifying the Santa Rosa, Calif., organic frozen food manufacturer’s expansion plans in Southern Oregon ended a long, high-profile search that even pitted the states’ governors against one another. "This is our first step out of Santa Rosa," says Scott Reed, Amy’s chief operations officer. "It’s been so easy to manage a single facility. The issue was do we expand now or later. It was the owners’ decision and the timing was right to make the move." Following the council’s 7-0 vote, Amy’s Kitchen will plot construction of two 100,000-square-foot buildings, with an eye at breaking ground in the spring and launching operations in early 2006. Advertisement Amy’s Kitchen reached capacity several months ago and has been turning away business. The company has reached $100 million in annual sales and expects 25 percent sales growth this year. But it hasn’t brought out a new line since introducing its highly successful natural soup four years ago. "Having a plant in Medford will allow us to explore new product lines," says Andy Kopral, Amy’s controller. "We’ll be able to do more research and development in Santa Rosa." While several local players expressed nervousness concerning the deal in recent days, Reed says there was no fear on the company’s part. Reed and Kopral sped up the freeway Wednesday evening, met with economic development officials Thursday morning, observed the council’s afternoon proceedings and returned home. "We just wanted to hear the (council’s) vote, but we weren’t concerned," Reed says. Perhaps the 200 jobs and long-term economic impact made it a bigger deal to recruiters and officials. Bruce Laird, an Oregon regional economic development officer, estimates the plant’s payroll will be a minimum of $5 million. Because the goods produced will bring in outside dollars, the multiplier effect will be four or five to one. "I think there is a certain nervousness when you are trying to make a deal, whether you are selling a home, buying or selling a business, or trying to start a new business," says outgoing Medford Mayor Lindsay Berryman. "There a dance that is done any time when you are trying to make a match. What we’re getting out of this is a non-polluting company that brings strength and a profit margin into the county." Amy’s Kitchen owners Andy and Rachel Berliner were in Houston Thursday en route to a Christmas vacation in Mexico. Andy Berliner says, while the land price was far less than some areas, the project expense will build during construction. "The land is not a huge part of the cost of the move," says Berliner, reached by phone at the Houston airport. "The buildings, and even more than buildings, fitting out-buildings and equipment will be a very large investment." Central Point real estate appraiser Christine Pellett pegged the dollar figure at $7,000 an acre in October 2003 when boat builder Alumaweld Boats Inc. considered the site before settling on another White City location. The site is located 300 feet south of the intersection of Antelope and Kirtland roads and shaped somewhat like the head of wrench, bound by a railroad spur on the north side, Antelope Road on the east, Whetstone Creek on the south and west and wetlands on the southeast. What gives the site its unique shape is an abandoned dump, dating back to the U.S. Army’s Camp White days during World War II. Use of the 9.5-acre dump declined after 1960, although the county continued to deposit dirt and concrete there for another three decades. The appraisal states the city has studied the dump site and it "does not pose a risk of contamination." Amy’s Kitchen is likely to lease the dump site and turn it into a parking lot at a later day. Berliner says plants for frozen and dry foods will be built simultaneously, although one will likely be operating before the other. "Both buildings are expandable so that as we run out of capacity we can keep going," Berliner says. A permanent presence is still weeks or months away. "We’ve been working on (a management team) for Medford, figuring out who locally from our existing operation we’d like to move there," Berliner says. "We’ll certainly hire some new management, but we’d like some people who have grown up in the business on site to carry Amy’s knowledge and culture with them." Privately held corporate moves and expansions are generally done under a cloak of secrecy. But political thermal winds thrust Amy’s Kitchen into the open after Oregon economic development recruiters began soliciting economically beleaguered California companies, boasting Oregon’s worker’s compensation and lower utility rates. Amy’s Kitchen leaders first met with state and local officials in May 2003, beginning what economic recruiters consider an 18- to 24-month cycle. With more and more California companies heading for Nevada, Oregon and other states, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger got involved by personally calling the Berliners. His efforts were relayed to the Los Angeles Times and soon reporters from San Francisco, Sacramento and Santa Rosa were all on the story. "(The Berliners) were taken back by the media attention," Laird says. "A lot of what they are trying to do is just operate their business in a normal, private fashion." Berliner anticipates media interview requests will die down now. "We haven’t had much attention other than about our food in the past — it’s been really different," Andy Berliner says. "It’s OK. It’s just taken a bit of adjustment." Amy’s expansion is a feather in the cap for Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development Inc., says chief Gordon Safley. His agency funded recruitment trips and supplied information to the manufacturer. Amy’s was also a successful venture for Bear Creek Corp. Employment Center Manager Anne Bruce, whose work with the Rogue Valley Workforce Council provided numbers for Amy’s to crunch. Especially pleased is former Medite vice president Hank Snow, who repeatedly urged the city to put idle land into productive use during his three decades with Medco and Medite. "It made no sense for the city to just hold property that taxpayers had paid to put in streets," says Snow, now human resources vice president for Roseburg Forest Products. "Even if the city gave away property, it would be ahead because it would allow business to come in and be on the tax rolls. With a couple hundred jobs, property and buildings on tax rolls, the city will far exceed what it gets with the property just sitting there." Snow, who now lives in Roseburg, still owns 38 acres on the other side of White City and more than six acres along North Phoenix Road. "Something like this spreads the tax burden around to more people," he says. "More jobs pays for more streets and development and everything else." City sought land deal to add jobs, revenue When Bill Hoke was hired as Medford’s economic developer in June 2000, one of his tasks was to find a buyer for the city’s environmentally sensitive Whetstone Industrial Park holdings on the western fringe of White City. "They told me, ‘Here’s what we have, see what you can do with it,’ " Hoke says. The idea was to peddle the land so it could provide jobs and create tax revenue. On Thursday, Hoke’s task was done. The Medford City Council approved a $350,000 deal with Amy’s Kitchen of Santa Rosa, Calif., and the organic frozen food company’s owner is more than excited to convert the pasture into productive use. "It was pretty clear to me once Sam (Fung of Coldwell Banker Pro West Real Estate) drove us up there that was the place," said Amy’s co-owner, Andy Berliner. "That was our No. 1 pick. I didn’t know who owned it or what the price was." Jackson County subdivided the land in the 1950s and the city acquired Whetstone in 1991. The park, at Kirtland and Table Rock roads, covers 637 acres west of Medford Industrial Park and is built on the remains of World War II-era Camp White. Alumaweld Boats Inc. eyed the parcel in 2003 as did an undisclosed out-of-state company that apparently is still looking for land. "I didn’t want to sell it for speculation and I’m happy we’re getting some jobs out of the (Amy’s Kitchen) deal," Hoke says. "My vision is that we don’t sell the land as an investment so somebody can sit on it, we wanted to create some jobs. It wasn’t the shortest route, but ultimately it was a better route for the community." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers