Payson Business Park News

Brian Hulet, Payson Economic Development Committee Chairman

By Brian Hulet

Chairman, Payson Economic Development Committee

Published in the June 15, 2016 print edition of The Payson Chronicle.

Recruiting businesses to the 400-acre business park located on the west side of the interstate is vital to economic development in Payson. As new businesses enter the park, jobs are provided for Payson residents and for others from surrounding communities.

Currently some of the larger businesses located there are Temkin International,Inc, Liberty Safe, and Rocky Mountain ATV.  Recently Cal Ranch purchased an existing building in the business park where they will house a regional distribution center.

During the past year, Payson City and the Payson Economic Development Committee (PEDC) have been working hard to make the business park more attractive to current businesses in Payson needing to grow and expand and to businesses looking to move to Utah or expand from other areas in the state. Recently the City Council passed a new business park zoning ordinance that makes it much easier for a business to construct a new building and also allows for a greater diversity of businesses allowed in the park.

The new 4-page guidelines replace a document of approximately 52 pages that contained a flow chart of the different entities, including Planning & Zoning and the City Council, from which businesses were required to obtain an okay before final approval of construction plans. Now if a business meets ordinance requirements, they may receive a much faster and simpler go-ahead.

A recent success in the business park is Plunder Design, a local company owned by Hillary Adams. She is currently in the process of purchasing 4 acres of land in order to build a 20,000-square-foot building.  With the company’s rapid growth—sales increased 82% from March to April—the owner believes they will eventually need to expand the warehouse planned now to a building of more than 50,000 square feet. Class A office space and a store front will fill 25,000 square feet of the projected structure.

Plunder Design is a party-plan business that manufactures and sells antique jewelry designed by Hillary.  About 35% of the jewelry sold is custom made.  Ms. Adams says, "The 80 employees that currently work at Plunder are the most important asset that the company has."  With their astounding sales growth, exploding from $60,000 of sales in January, 2015, to 1.2 million in January, 2016, they will be hiring many more employees.

The owner/designer adds, "Most Plunder employees have come to find our small company through a family member at Plunder, a friend, or even through church here in Payson. Because of that, we have our small town feel right here at Plunder. We all know and care about each other, and we are achieving dreams, whatever they may be. That’s why we feel our company is such a success."

We are excited about the growth and success of Plunder and that they have chosen to expand here in Payson. According to Payson City Manager Dave Tucket, "some other exciting additions will be coming to the business park soon."