By Rosalie Rayburn
Journal Staff Writer
RIO RANCHO— A slew of successful business deals shows that the city's ability to attract new employers is on the rise.
Rio Rancho Economic Development Corp.'s marketing efforts in the first nine months of 2007 helped persuade nine companies to locate new facilities in the city or expand existing facilities, bringing 200 new jobs to Sandoval County.
Until recently, the organization was typically able to claim responsibility for fewer than five new company facilities or expansions each year.
"So it's gathering momentum," said RREDC President Noreen Scott in a recent interview.
Rio Rancho Economic Development Corp. is a nonprofit founded in 1992 to bring new companies and jobs to Rio Rancho and nearby communities.
Matt Spangler, chairman-elect of the organization's board, gave a report on its activities at the RREDC's semi-annual luncheon this month.
Companies that have decided to open facilities or expand in Rio Rancho or a nearby Sandoval County community include ENC Laboratories, which does water testing, Rio Rancho Accounting and Tax Services, and Aero Mechanical Industries.
Aero Mechanical, an aircraft repair company, launched operations in Rio Rancho three years ago. This year, the company expanded its facility by 50,000 square feet. It has about 70 employees and plans to hire an additional 100 workers by the end of 2008.
Scott traveled recently to Canada to visit a client interested in establishing a new operation in Sandoval County that would bring 100 new jobs to Cochiti Pueblo.
A RREDC report highlights other business developments the corporation had a hand in bringing to the area. They include a new Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse. St. Louis, Mo.- and Jacksonville, Fla.-based developer Midland Development Group is working with the city to build a 171,000-square-foot Lowe's at Northern and Loma Colorado.
Chaparral Materials, a supplier to home builders and contractors, expanded into an 80,000-square-foot facility on Stanley Drive off Enchanted Hills Boulevard. The facility is Chaparral's corporate headquarters. Chaparral also has offices in Albuquerque, Farmington, Las Cruces, Santa Fe and Durango, Colo.
RREDC and the Rio Rancho Regional Chamber of Commerce have been very welcoming, said Roger L. Probasco, Chaparral's president and general manager.
Scott has also begun to market industrial space on the Hawk site, roughly 70 acres near the intersection of Unser and U.S. 550.
Scott said she continues to meet with representatives of the TV and movie company Lions Gate Entertainment but declined to give any information about when it will follow through on plans to open a facility in Rio Rancho.
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