Another Spoke Added to the Hub

There's business-development good news for Ogden City this morning, gentle readers. There had been rumors floating about that another ski industry oriented equipment manufacturer was ready to move operations to Ogden City; and it appears this is exactly what will happen. According to this morning's Jeff Demoss front-page Std-Ex story, Scott USA has inked a pact to relocate its Clearfield distribution operation to Business Depot Ogden. Scott is a venerable recreation equipment manufacturing warhorse, with sports gear ranging from apparel to high-tech hardware. This is the kind of company that will give Ogden City real credibility in its quest to turn itself into a ski industry hub; and I believe congratulations are in order for the people who put the deal together.

Notably, the BDO property is owned by Ogden City, but administered by a private developer/manager. Unlike the troubled Ogden City mall-site, where government officials are attempting to manage things in a true do-it-yourself fashion, the BDO project is run by an experienced property management/development professional, The Boyer Company. While Mr. Demoss's story doesn't provide any details about the negotiations that led up to Scott USA's decision to relocate to Ogden, I think its fair to infer that the process was relatively straightforward and seamless:

Steve Waldrip, BDO project manager for The Boyer Co. and the key figure in negotiations with Scott, said the building project will probably cost from $12 million to $13 million. He said no tax breaks or other incentives were needed to lure the company.

"This is a pretty straightforward deal," Waldrip said. "They made the decision to come here based on its own merit."

Ogden City officials are naturally elated over this world-class business "catch." They're patting themselves on the backs, as reports Mr. Demoss in a second business section story -- and rightly so, I think. They should justifiably congratulate themselves, and we should all give them a tip of the hat, for showing the good sense -- in the BDO instance at least -- of hiring professionals to do a professional's job.

One wonders what could happen in the case of the Ogden City Mall site, if our city officials were to toss out Stuart Reid's grandiose central-planning master-scheme, put Boyer or some other professional developer in charge, and allow the downtown property to be professionally-developed, according to the dictates of the free market's "invisible hand".

And what say our gentle readers about this?