Medlin Ramps of California wanted to establish a presence somewhere between its North Carolina and West Coast facilities. After visiting relatives in Alamogordo, the company CEO inquired about potential local properties and financial incentives.
Laurie Anderson, executive director of the Otero County Economic Development Council, acted quickly to demonstrate Alamogordo’s business readiness. Working with local connections, she and her project team helped the company transform an abandoned and derelict Walmart building into a 30,000 square foot facility that began manufacturing industrial ramps in February 2020.
Anderson hopes the facility will attract other development, including retail, entertainment and additional manufacturing on the adjoining 65,000 acres.
Relationships matter
Anderson believes relationships are what make economic development projects succeed, and she spends a lot of time building them. She could respond quickly to the Medlin inquiry because her team was in place, allowing her to suggest multiple incentives that contributed to securing the deal.
“Immediately we were working programs with New Mexico State University (NMSU) on apprenticeship programs for Medlin Ramps and at the same time working the work-force aspect and trying to work on permitting,” she said. The most important factor was having “a rapid-response team, a well-oiled team that understands the importance of these projects” and knowing “who would be able to take charge at the city, who would be able to help with permitting, who could help with work-force needs.”
Workers are being trained for jobs under a partnership with NMSU- Alamogordo and New Mexico Workforce Connection. Workers are offered classes as well as on-the-job training through an onsite welding program developed jointly by NMSU and Medlin Ramps. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act is helping finance training.
LEDA
The project is also gaining traction with assistance from the Local Economic Development Act (LEDA). The State of New Mexico pledged $250,000 to the project, bolstering the City of Alamogordo’s $2.5 million commitment.
LEDA allows local governments to invest public money in private business ventures that benefit the community in specific ways, such as job creation. Enacted in 1994, LEDA bypassed the nondonation rule that prohibited taxpayer dollars from being used in private projects. The law lets municipalities pass a local ordinance to levy a 1/8 percent local-option gross receipts tax earmarked for infrastructure projects that spur local economic development.
About 90 communities have passed local LEDA ordinances, and LEDA-enabled funds have supported the creation of more than 11,000 new jobs and $3 billion in new investment statewide over the past six years, according to the New Mexico Economic Development Department.
LEDA rules have been strengthened over the years to ensure that taxpayers aren’t liable if a company defaults on its commitments. For example, the City of Alamogordo holds the lien to the property purchased by Medlin Ramps.
Because LEDA dollars must be matched by private financing, Medlin obtained between $1.5 and $2 million in financing, and its Project Participation Agreement with the city stipulates that it must create at least 45 new jobs within three years.
The Medlin Ramps project was announced in December 2018 and came online in February 2020—an atypically long timeline that Anderson attributed to the extensive architectural planning involved in bringing the old building up to code after 20 years of vacancy.
Most projects are completed in as few as four months, especially when communities are proactive and ready for opportunities. “It’s just really building a strong resource team that understands the importance of these projects,” she said. “We have really good relationships with the college, the city, the chamber.”
Learn more about Otero County EDC. Visit the Medlin Ramps website.
Finance New Mexico Article 683