PRYOR — Dave Miller feels a buzz around Pryor these days, and it’s not just from the beer he brews as an entrepreneur.
“It really feels like something is going to happen here,” said Miller, co-owner of the local Fat Toad Brewing Co. “A lot of it’s generated by OOWA (Oklahoma Ordnance Works Authority). But also, Pryor Main Street is revitalizing.
“So for us, being entrepreneurs, we know that it brings people to our city. This is really the first time that we thought, ‘OK, things are happening. There’s dirt moving.’ This kind of feels like a tipping point, I guess you would say.”
Pryor has been riding an economic development wave the past 10 months. Over that span, more than $750 million in investment has been announced at the local MidAmerica Industrial Park (MAIP) from electric vehicle maker Canoo ($482.6 million), tech company Northern Data ($270 million) and the Cherokee Nation ($16 million).
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MAIP also is a finalist for an unnamed manufacturer that, according to the industrial park, could spend $6 billion on a factory that would create 6,000 high-paying positions.
"Special mega legislation" would expand economic incentive programs to attract a specific, unnamed company, he said.
“Pryor is a great town and all, but there in the past haven’t been those jobs for younger people,” Miller said. “This gives kids who leave (town) the hopes of maybe coming back to their hometown and having a nice job.”
Miller and his wife, Angela, along with neighbor Chris Harrison and his wife, Kim, started a small tap room across from the industrial park in 2018. As they begin to outgrow their space, park operator OOWA asked the group if it wanted to be part of the MAIP-inspired District, a 162-acre development that incorporates retail, residential, parks and trails.
Fat Toad hopped on the chance, moving in September into a larger space and adding wood-fired pizza to its mix.
“They wanted us to kind of cater to a crowd that they wanted to help bring out there,” said Miller, whose day job is assistant principal at Pryor Middle School. “That’s where we landed and that’s where we are.
“OOWA and (head of MAIP) David Stewart and his group showed faith in us and reached out to us. We realized what our dream was and kind of compared it with their dream of commerce out this way in the district and foot traffic and people enjoying the quality of life in Pryor. It’s been there, but it hasn’t been there to near the level of what we think we’re about to see.”
Getting to work
MAIP will have to hustle to fill the at least 1,650 jobs that Canoo and Northern Data plan to bring.
To that end, the park in January announced the addition of former Oklahoma CareerTech State Director Marcie Mack to its workforce development team. Among those supporting her efforts is Director of Workforce Development Scott Fry, who leads MidAmerica Delivers, a comprehensive workforce strategy.
Since 2017, MidAmerica has invested more than $15 million in its education and workforce training programs. Its on-site workforce partners include the Cherokee Nation, Rogers State University and Northeast Tech. In addition, the MidAmerica Center of Excellence serves as a one-stop career center to provide direction to job applicants.
“We’re making sure that with our recent announcements, we are holistic in our approach and making sure that we are continuing to provide support for our current companies that have provided great workforce and great working opportunities for individuals in the region,” Mack said.
“The partnerships that we have across the region and across the state and nationally are going to be vital in making sure that are helping to connect the talent that the companies are looking for. It takes all of us to make this happen.”
Fry estimates about 160 jobs are open at the park, many of which are entry-level production positions that stay open regularly because of high turnover rates.
“There is no doubt that this is going to be a challenge,” he said. “But we have some fantastic partners that are on board with us, and Marcie is putting together some great strategies that will help us reach outside our typical boundaries to attract people to the community.
“I think it’s the land of opportunity. That’s only going to grow as the park continues to grow. The opportunities for people to be successful locally are going to be absolutely endless.”
Cherokee Nation assist
The Cherokee Nation stands to figure prominently in any area labor push, particularly with Canoo. Company CEO Tony Aquila has said he wants 50% of his employees to be war veterans and Native Americans.
“He (Aquila) sees the value in the Cherokee Nation, particularly our ability to do what we’ve done for other companies, which is help recruit a workforce and in some cases, help train a workforce,” Cherokee Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said. “Canoo is very much a future-looking company.
“We’re talking about an industry that is going to be a dominant presence in the company for years to come: electric vehicles and adjacent industries and technologies. The Cherokee Nation wants to be a part of that and that’s the reason we’re poised to help that investment out.”
For many, building a career and living the American dream means having a family. Recognizing that, the Cherokee Nation last month announced plans for its $16 million child care center to be built on land donated by MAIP.
The 27,000-square-foot facility will generate 50 jobs.
“We looked at what they’re doing at The District there for retail, housing, amenities like parks and trails,” Hoskin said. “That looked like a great fit for us to expand our child care offering.”
The head of the Nation has said that only 20% of working parents in Pryor have access to available child care.
“A lot of families have to make a decision about entering the workforce based on whether it makes economic sense for the household,” Hoskin said. “Part of that calculation is child care.”
Been there, done that
The Pryor area has witnessed this large-scale industrial bump before.
Google, the California-based internet services firm, built its first data center at MAIP in 2011. Eight years later, the company announced a $600 million expansion, thrusting to $3 billion its total investment in Mayes County.
Google’s presence has provided far-reaching benefits to the area, particularly to Pryor Public Schools in the form of property tax revenue.
From 2009 to 2022, the school district’s net assessed valuation has gone from about $80 million to more than $844 million, greatly increasing the district’s bonding capacity and allowing it to make a substantial investment in facilities across the district without raising property taxes, said Lisa Muller, superintendent of Pryor Public Schools.
A prime example, she said, is an $81 million bond issue approved earlier this month that will finish renovations to two elementary schools, upgrade the middle school and make significant additions to the high school, including a new football stadium.
The staying power of companies such as Canoo, which will build in the Chouteau-Mazie school district, and Northern Data (Pryor district) ultimately could generate similar outcomes.
“What I hear from families all the time is they want their children to be able to stay here in the area and not feel like they have to move elsewhere to have those good jobs,” Muller said. “We, of course, have a lot of opportunity already in the industrial part, and the companies moving in just add to that.”
