SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KTIV) -
Sioux City's had high hopes that a local pork plant's expansion would absorb the job loss created when John Morrell closed in 2010.
However, that project, a year in the making, has yet to get off the ground.
Thousands of people drive by the former John Morrell site on the interstate every day and a lot of them have been asking the same question, 'when will we start to see that new industry come in?'"
"We obviously expected that the construction would start this summer," said Mayor Pro-Tem John Fitch.
About half of the 22 acre site has been set aside for Global Foods, another pork processor down the road. Their plan is to build a second plant, triple the size of this one, in the former footprint of John Morrell, and add hundreds of jobs. However, there's been a delay.
"We're not overly concerned about how long this process is taking," said the city's Economic Development Specialist Sam Wagner.
City officials say problems in the pork industry pushed the plant plans back.
"Their industry as a whole has changed over the last year," explained Fitch.
They also say the company told them the project will cost more than expected. However, the city's economic development department is quick to point out that the $10 million project isn't dead, just delayed.
"A project of this size, and scope, and complexity basically takes a long time," said Wagner.
Wagner said because the city wanted to apply for a grant to get the site ready, the Global Foods expansion was announced earlier than usual. So, every step of the project is now public, which is unusual for an investment this large.
"It would often be done behind the scenes and no one would really know about it until it was actually time to announce the project," Wager explained.
The city spent more than a million dollars to clear the old pork plant. They're moving forward with plants to update the rail spur and add a road. Two million dollars in state and federal funds were secured for work at the site.
Wagner didn't know whether the city would have to pay back that grant money, if the Global Foods project falls through, but the hope is that clearing this site will pave the way for future economic development.
In April, the Sioux City City Council approved the sale of the site to Global Foods for one dollar.
The property was to be assessed at a minimum of $7 million starting in 2014.
However, Economic Development Director Marty Dougherty said that agreement was never finalized with the company.
