Elected officials hail Great Falls economic progress in two events

GREAT FALLS — An economic boom is happening to Great Falls, at least according to local, state and federal officials who spent much of Friday celebrating two large businesses coming to Cascade County.

Gov. Greg Gianforte, U.S. Rep. Troy Downing and Great Falls Mayor Cory Reeves visited a new Amazon delivery building and then took part in a groundbreaking event for a massive new Janicki Industries complex at AgriTech Park.

The two industries represent growth, Reeves said, who was all smiles during the two events.

“I’m just glad to see that we’re finally on the map,” Reeves said in an interview. “We’re being discovered.”

The Amazon investment is about $7 million, company media relations staff said, with 50 full-time employees and hundreds of flex drivers — part-time jobs Amazon is actively hiring for, they said. The Great Falls Amazon facility is a 35,000 square foot “last mile” facility. Essentially, the workers there are the people the company’s customers will see on their doorstep in the town, and beyond.

Amazon delivers to many of the small communities that surround the Electric City and said they’ve now invested more than $200 million in Montana operations since 2010.

Amazon officials said they were committed to safety, and brought Sarah Rose, a company vice president overseeing global health and safety operations, to talk about that topic. “There is nothing more important than ensuring the safe, high-quality jobs across our network and team right here in the state of Montana,” Rose, who is from Butte, said in prepared remarks at the Amazon facility. “That’s why I believe so deeply in what we’re celebrating today. Hard-working Montanans deserve good jobs, competitive pay, and real opportunities to grow.”

The economy was fully in focus throughout the event by both political and business leaders. There’s a sense that massive missile upgrades, new industry and a booming housing industry could make a huge economic difference in Great Falls. Amazon, and the investment from Janicki is another example of a widening Montana economy, Downing said.

“We were just at the Amazon facility a little while ago that’s creating jobs in one sector. This is creating another,” Downing, whose eastern district includes Great Falls, said during an interview. “Obviously, we have Malmstrom. We’ve got the military side. Having that diversification, there’s no single point of failure. If something starts to go sideways, you’ve got other things that can pick up that slack, and in terms of long-term growth opportunity and stability for this region and for the state, I think it’s incredibly important.”

Janicki Industries, an aerospace company, chose Great falls for an $800 million investment that could provide more than 2,000 jobs once fully realized. The 180-acre facility will include 1.6 million square feet of production space. Janicki employees, trades workers, union members and politicians gathered at the Janicki groundbreaking, with about 200 people in attendance.

According to company literature, the company “designs and builds composite and metallic tooling, parts, prototypes, and assembled structures for customers across aerospace, defense, space, marine and other industries.”

Peter Janicki, the founder and CEO of the company, said once fully built, the facility will make Great Falls an “epicenter” of aerospace engineering by attracting customers from a variety of high-level tech companies.

Janicki Industries looked at several sites for their new facility, but ultimately decided on Great Falls, in large part due to the people. 

The community already had the site zoned and ready for a business, which made the process easier, he said.

“I don’t like the idea that a big company just takes over,” said John Janicki, president of the company and Peter’s brother. “We didn’t do that, and I would not be supportive of that. It’s just really easy to work with here, and we’ve met with the city, and the city says, ‘Hey, we’re ready to help.’”

When asked what he liked about the regulatory environment in the area, Janicki quipped, “What regulatory environment?”

He added cheap utilities, no sales tax, friendly property taxes and relatively low housing costs all contributed as well. Janicki has much of their operations based in Washington and Utah. John Janicki added that with Montana’s friendly business environment, that some Washington businesses might be looking eastward as well.

“I think we’re gonna attract a lot of people,” John Janicki said in an interview.

Gianforte said he felt there was a “little like cleanup on Aisle Three and Four when I came into office,” and pointed to his efforts lowering taxes and removing regulations, both of which have been longtime priorities for his administration.

“The biggest issue that employers run into is the workforce,” Gianforte said in an interview. “This is why we focused on career and technical education tax credits for trade education and making it easier to break down the barriers between our higher education, K through 12 education, and the marketplace, so people can have great careers in front of them.”