Interest in launching or moving a business to Boone County has been strong so far this year, with the Boone Economic Development Corp. receiving a record number of leads through the end of February.
Molly Whitehead, executive director of the Boone County Economic Development Corp., gave an update to the Zionsville Town Council at its morning meeting March 19. She said lead requests can be as simple as a cut sheet for a building or as advanced as a lengthy request for projects.
As of mid-March, the EDC had received 42 leads. At this time last year, the number was 37.
“One challenge we continue to see, not only in Zionsville, but Boone County, is over half the leads require an existing building,” Whitehead said. “That does limit our ability to respond to leads if we don’t have something to fit their requirements.”
Whitehead also said seven or eight leads have been rejected, which usually happens if the EDC doesn’t expect the project to be a good fit for the county.
“Call centers are not a good fit because there are not good spaces and they have low wages, which we cannot fill in Boone County,” Whitehead said. “We had quite a few (leads) with dirty operations. They ask about discharging black matter into open streams, and those sorts of opportunities we do decline.”
Whitehead said the EDC recently applied for three grants for a site-readiness program and restaurant marketing campaigns.
“We want to bring different types of restaurants not only to Zionsville, but throughout Boone County,” she said. “I know that’s a key quality-of-life driver.”
Council President Josh Garrett asked a few questions following Whitehead’s presentation, such as how the EDC picks a community for the location of a job with high wages. Whitehead said a key factor is available space and inventory. She said Zionsville is a key area for headquarters and offices.
The EDC plans to update the Zionsville Town Council on its activities and projects each quarter. For more, visit betterinboone.org.
