PITTSBURG, Kan. — Director of Economic Development and President of the Pittsburg Area Chamber of Commerce Blake Benson, along with PSU Associate Vice President of Research and Economic Development Wes Streeter presented the Pittsburg city commission with the 2024 economic report on Tuesday night.
Streeter reported $730 million in community investments in Pittsburg since 2013. Of that, $152 million, or 21 percent, has happened just since 2023.
“This is a significant amount for a community of our size,” Benson added. “What’s even more noteworthy is how diversified that is.”
Not all of the investment was centered on one or two sectors but was spread out across several. The university tops the chart with 18.4 percent with manufacturing (16.8%), housing (16.1%), medical (12%), and infrastructure (10.9%) rounding out the top five investment sectors.
Investments in retail, education, entertainment, hospitality, recreation, and services make up the remaining investments.
This diversification, Benson said, is a major factor in helping Pittsburg weather the “economic storms” without the local economy taking too much damage overall.
Benson reported an increase in the number of middle-income households in Pittsburg of 18 percent, which outpaces the state and national averages. This increase is in part because of a 30 percent increase in average median wages since 2021, jumping from $14.09 per hour ($29,304 annually) to $18.38 an hour ($38,235 annually). Inflation has influenced some of the increase (about 20%), but the remaining 10 percent is real growth, meaning residents have more money in their pockets, which is backed up by the increase in the city’s sales tax collections.
Over a 13-county region during 2024, the Small Business Development Center worked with 395 clients, who invested $2.7 million and started 33 new businesses. Crawford County alone accounts for 92 of those clients, representing $600,000 in investments and seven of the new businesses.
Some of the projects highlighted by Benson and Streeter include Pitt Plastic’s 200,000-square-foot expansion; a 30,000-square-foot addition to Heritage Tractor; and the addition of a night shift of 50 employees and a 20,000-square-foot addition at Atkinson Industries, one of Pittsburg’s oldest industries, which is soon to be known as NVent Enclosures.
There has also been an expansion of Town Center with the opening of three new stores, Five Below, Rack Room, and soon, Ulta. Additionally, downtown Pittsburg has seen growth with a $1.1 million renovation by Lorenz-Haus Development, a CHC clinic, and a second Kannarr Eye Care office. The south end of town gained a new SEK Urgent Care at the mall complex.
In total, the Economic Development Advisory Council authorized $500,000 from the Revolving Loan Fund in 2024, which stimulated more than $36 million in investments, or $72 in return for every $1 invested.
For 2025, even more is in store, such as Gorilla Rising, which includes the new Kelce College of Business and Besse Hotel, the Wildcat Data Center, the KBI Regional Crime Lab, a second production facility for EaglePicher, a prove-out facility for the Tyler Research Center on campus, APEX Stages, and a new wastewater treatment plant.
Benson credits the city’s success to the cooperation between the Chamber of Commerce, Pittsburg State University, and the City of Pittsburg, calling it “an innovative way to coordinate economic development.”
“When developers are interested in our community,” Benson said, “they don’t care who does what. They just want to know the community is going to work together to get them what they need.”
Benson added that this teamwork approach gets results and is attracting attention from around the state, especially when considering what has been accomplished by a “community of our size.”
This reporting is made possible, in part, by the Support Local Journalism Project Fund. Learn more at: southeastkansas.org/Localnews
