San Juan County moves forward with plans to develop a 190-acre industrial park that it acquired in La Plata in 2007. The county hopes to attract businesses that will provide high-paying jobs in the wake of the San Juan Generating Station’s closure. By Ryan Simonovich. This story is sponsored by Home2Suites and Durango Motor Company.
Learn More
San Juan County Industrial Park Page – https://www.sjcounty.net/government-services/economic-development/industrial-park
Four Corners Economic Development – https://www.4cornersed.com/
Home2Suites – https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/fmnblht-home2-suites-farmington-bloomfield/
Durango Motor Company – https://www.durangomotorcompany.com/
Transcript
San Juan County plans to further develop its 190 acre industrial park, located near the town of La Plata. You’re watching the Farmington Local News, brought to you by Home to Suites and Durango Motor Company. I’m Ryan Simonovich. The county acquired the property in 2007 after the La Plata Coal Mines closure in 2006. The property includes an existing 19,200 square foot building, which has been vacant since 2020.
During that time that it was vacant, we were able to apply for and received a federal grant, as well as the state grant, to make improvements to the facility. The federal grant paid for about $2.3 million in various HVAC, lighting, office improvements, as well as ADA related improvements. And the state grant provided for the extension of a natural gas line to the facility.
A county request for applications from interested tenants closed March 18th, and the county hopes a business could move in as early as this summer. In addition to the facility available for lease, the county holds leases on the property with PESCO, Kinder Morgan, and the Four Corners Film Office.
Well, it’s very important to our county commission to find ways to diversify our economy, given that we’ve seen the loss of coal-fired power and some of the jobs associated with it. We’ve seen some of the ups and downs of the oil and gas industry. And so that’s really important that we’re trying to find ways to bring new opportunities here, new industries, new businesses, but with that, new jobs.
Numerous organizations are focused on revitalizing the area’s economy after the San Juan Generating Station and the Associated La Plata Mine closed.
It’s hard to find an entity that wasn’t affected in some way by the closure of that plant. So certainly, there’s effects, and we are working towards diversification in our economy, but we’re also understanding the fortes that built this community as well.
Gibbs says San Juan County and Farmington can lead into their legacy as an energy community.
And there’s other things as well where we have competitive advantages of the building blocks of energy that can be reassembled in different ways for the economy for the next decade to come. So we’re doing a lot of things that are a little bit visionary, but also are the work that needs to be done to build, to compete. Know your dirt, know your people, know your economy, and share to the world the attributes that you have here to show people what they can do to make money here for long term with the people that we have.
The City of Farmington also plans to explore development of an industrial park at the Four Corners Regional Airport. Commercial flights will return to the airport this May. For more information about this and other stories, visit FarmingtonLocal.News. Thank you for watching this edition of The Local News Network. I’m Ryan Simonovich.
