The East Hills Business Park, located along Kansas Highway 10 in East Lawrence, celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2008.

It’s been nearly a decade since Prosoco Inc. relocated from Kansas City, Kan., to the East Hills Business Park in Lawrence.

And Bruce Boyer, the company’s vice president, couldn’t be happier.

“The relocation of the company has been phenomenal for us,” he said. “It’s a change in atmosphere from our own Kansas City, Kansas, location we had before. It’s breathed new life into the organization.”

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the East Hills Business Park, a 380-acre industrial business park located along Kansas Highway 10 in east Lawrence.

Local business leaders are marking the two-decade anniversary by celebrating the park’s history while planning for the future.

“We’re talking about a small city out there with its 2,600 employees, and the taxes they pay are a huge benefit to the community,” said Beth Johnson, vice president of economic development for the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce.

The business park is home to seven companies that generated more than $2.1 million in tax revenue in 2006. Those companies represent six of the top-25 manufacturers in Douglas County and 5.5 percent of Lawrence’s work force.

Companies represented include Amarr Garage Doors; Kinedyne Corp., which makes cargo netting; and Sauer Danfoss, which makes mobile hydraulics.

Currently, 87 acres still are available for economic development. There also is a “speculative” building built in 2002 and a building vacated by Serologicals. The latter business was sold in 2006 to Millipore Corporation.

East Hills missed out on one new tenant last year. Deciphera Pharmaceuticals announced plans to relocate to the business park last year. But when the Lawrence City Commission approved a unique tax rebate program for the company, initially without public discussion, there was public outcry, and Deciphera nixed its plans.

According to Jim Otten, chairman of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, the East Hills Business Park has solid examples of the type of businesses the city wants to attract – environmentally sound light industry.

Specifically, biosciences and transportation are targeted as the growth businesses for the next 10 to 15 years, so the city is planning for how these businesses would fit into the community.

In 2008, the city has budgeted $195,000 for its economic development marketing, $200,000 to the Lawrence-Douglas County Bioscience Authority and $8,500 to the ECO2 group.

For Boyer, whose company makes industrial solvents, transportation access remains an issue for East Hills. He said completion of the South Lawrence Trafficway would allow for easier access from the west and could help to attract more companies to the park.

“Without a doubt, if we had better access to I-70, it would help businesses,” Boyer said.

And from his perspective, growing the East Hills park has both benefits and drawbacks.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” he said. “From a business perspective, it creates more competition for the work force. From a Lawrence business leader standpoint, we’d like to attract more businesses and alleviate the tax burden a little bit.”