Associated Wholesale Grocers is the third largest privately owned company in Kansas City metro area. When it was time to expand the facilities of its co-op owned distribution center, which serves member stores in nine states, the company looked at several other locations, including sites across the state line in Kansas City, Mo.

"We turned over all the rocks," said Joe Poretta, executive director of corporate services. "We talked to people in Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City Power and Light (Kansas City's local electricity provider), but Kansas City, Kan., and the Kansas Board of Public Utilities (BPU) came up with the best economic development package."

Associated Wholesale Grocers invested $20 million in the expansion, which added 285,000 square feet to its refrigerated warehouse -- bringing the facility's total size to just under one million square feet.

"They now have the largest free-standing refrigerated warehouse in the area," said BPU's George Powell.

Also in Kansas City, Kan., Armour Swift Eckridge, manufacturers of processed meat products such as bulk deli items, breakfast strips, smoked sausage and retail franks, last year completed a 120,000 square foot expansion.

The company built on to their existing facility, and added machinery to the cost of about $12 million. The expansion created about 100 new jobs. Armour Swift Eckridge, which has 19 other plants across the country, works with local distributing companies to ship their products.

And in Olathe, at the southwestern end of the Kansas City metro area, ALDI, Inc., a German-based wholesale and retail food products firm, is constructing a 425,000 square foot regional distribution headquarters on 168 acres. The $25 million facility is expected to be operational by March 1998.

The company requested industrial revenue bonds for the expansion, which involves retention of 102 jobs in the area and growth of 10 jobs per year. The facility will be one of nine distribution facilities worldwide, and will service ALDI stores in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa and Nebraska.

Computer hardware and software manufacturers contract with Sykes to provide telephone support to people needing assistance with technical products. Hiring began in the summer of 1996, and by the end of this year, employment is expected to reach 400; the hourly pay base for new employees is $7.

Sykes considered a couple of sites in Florida before deciding on the Hays location. The $7 million project was secured when the city of Hays agreed to give the company $2 million (about half was of which was contributed by private donors) for the deal and to provide sufficient land in the airport industrial park to accommodate another Sykes building should the company decide to expand there next year.

Another telephone-based business that chose Kansas for new facilities is Southern Educational Council. This New Jersey-based telemarketing firm chose Kansas for two new operations to handle telemarketing for profit and not-for-profit organizations. The company brought 150 jobs to Parsons, in southeastern Kansas, and 200 to Pratt, in south-central Kansas.

"We looked to locate in areas where other telemarketing firms were not," said Eric Greenberg, in-house counsel for Southern Educational Council. "We looked at areas that needed the jobs and could provide state and local assistance." The state was very helpful, Greenberg said, in providing reimbursement for training expenses. The total cost for both new facilities totals about $1.5 million.

"Everyone hopes that this is the kind of thing, where if you build a quality project, they will come," said Jim Thompson, executive director of Wyandotte Development Inc., a county agency that is involved in recruiting the project.

The estimated $180-200 million facility will initially seat 75,000 spectators and, depending on market conditions, will grow to accommodate 154,000. Besides hosting the NASCAR race events, Thompson is confident the track -- whose "infield" could house multiple football stadiums -- will prove useful for a variety of other public purposes, including fairs and concerts.

Diamant Boart, Inc. (DBI), the world's leading diamond tool manufacturer and part of the global Diamant Boart Group, based in Brussels, Belgium, also chose Olathe for its new headquarters. DBI officials hope to begin construction on their $10 million facility this November.