T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce President/CEO John Hall speaks before the city council during Monday night’s meeting. The council voted unanimously to approve moving forward with the first lot sale in the new Edgewood Industrial Park to Boost Run LLC at a total price of $279,979 for just over 7 ½ acres.

While several of the other topics discussed during Monday night’s meeting were more contentious and garnered plenty of debate, there was excitement all around as the Marshalltown city council moved forward with the sale of a 7.567 acre lot at the new Edgewood Industrial Park to Boost Run LLC for a data center creating 12 high-paying jobs.

Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce President/CEO John Hall said the Chicago-based company was drawn to the site by a combination of the availability of land and power and the Emerson data center that is currently listed for sale.

“Through a visit to the community, they landed on this site. They’re excited by some of the progress and development they see happening in the community and are looking forward to making an investment here,” Hall said.

He added that the company is looking at a phased investment, and he didn’t know all of the details offhand. Hall did, however, indicate that there would be about 12 “considerably high paying jobs” with some in Marshalltown and some remote.

“Their top line jobs are starting seven-figure jobs, so it’s a pretty substantial payroll and pretty highly specialized for what they’re doing. But it’s a data center where basically they’ll be building the facility and leasing out portions for high volume data work,” he said.

Hall then joked that the data center jargon was “over his skis” and discussed the potential impacts to the nearby neighborhood. He said the company didn’t believe there would be any additional noise but would be happy to do whatever it takes to mitigate any negative impact.

“Again, (we’re) excited that we were able to bring this project forward. (I) laud the council for their actions with the Edgewood Road extension and the unlocking of additional industrial land, and this is only the beginning now that we’ve got land assets we can market and make available,” Hall said.

During the staff review portion of the public hearing, Public Works Director Heather Thomas clarified that the action before the council would not sell the property yet but rather put it into an offer of acceptance granting Boost Run 60 days to do due diligence. The company made a full price offer at $37,000 per acre (including $12,000 in reimbursement to the regional stormwater system) for a total cost of $279,979.

Councilor Jeff Schneider described the project as a great example of the diversification of industry in Marshalltown and a great deal, and Councilor Mark Mitchell asked if the city had enough water to sustain the facility “with everything else going on” or if it could be recovered and reused.

Hall responded that the company didn’t intend to use water for anything beyond flushing toilets and washing hands within the facility, and their cooling system is designed to be air handled. Councilor Gary Thompson said the remote jobs could still be located in Marshalltown, and Councilor Mike Ladehoff called it “a really good start” to the sale of the lots before noting that the initial decision to put in the Edgewood extension was passed on a split 4-3 vote.

“It’s paying off already, so I’m looking forward to more, John,” Ladehoff said.

Thompson then confessed he was one of the no votes at the time and admitted he was wrong. A subsequent motion to approve moving forward with the sale as presented passed by a unanimous 7-0 vote.

——

Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.