Planned Mason City pork processing plant gets state incentives

The Iowa Economic Development Authority Board on Tuesday approved incentives for projects including a $239 million pork processing plant in Mason City and a $3.7 million repurposing of an existing office building by a Cedar Rapids company.

Prestage Farms, a 33-year-old 'top five” producer of live hogs and live turkeys with multiple U.S. locations, plans to build a state-of-the-art pork processing plant in Mason City. The facility will create 922 jobs, of which 332 were eligible for incentives at a qualifying wage of $15.79 per hour.

Since 2003, Prestage Farms has operated swine finishing facilities in Iowa. The company has formed a new entity, Prestage Foods of Iowa, to build the Mason City plant.

The IEDA Board awarded Vspec LLC of Cedar Rapids tax benefits from Iowa High Quality Jobs program. The third-party vehicle insurance claims administrator plans to invest $3.7 million to renovate and repurpose a 36-year-old building at 4200 C St. SW.

Vspec expects to create 30 jobs, of which 21 were eligible for incentives at a qualifying wage of $23.62 per hour.

Built in 1980, the building originally was designed for use by FMC Link-Belt, which until 1985 had a plant in Cedar Rapids that manufactured construction equipment. Vspec, owned by IGD Industries of Cedar Rapids, will significantly upgrade the building to contemporary office space.

Pending approval of city financial incentives, renovation and construction is expected to begin next month. Completion is projected for March 2017.

Vspec is housed in IGD Industries' corporate headquarters at 4150 C St. SW. Gros­claude said the move nearby will create a campus environment with IGD Industries.

The IEDA Board also awarded SynderBio Inc. of Coralville a $25,000 grant from the state's Proof of Commercial Relevance Fund for collecting market intelligence and assessment and validation activities.

SynderBio was founded on technology developed at the University of Iowa. The company's core technology platform is based on an innovative mechanical technique to discriminate benign and malignant cancer cells.

SynderBio already has developed two prototype devices using funding obtained from UI. The next milestone for SynderBio will be development of a manufacturing-ready instrument for use in research laboratories.