ST. JOSEPH, Mo. &045; On a sweltering, 100-degree day, one city had its wish granted and another’s was vanquished.

&uot;We are pleased to announce that we’ve picked St. Joseph for the location of our processing plant and corporate headquarters,&uot; Rick Hoffman, CEO of Premium Pork LLC, said at a press conference Thursday.

Albert Lea and St. Joseph have been vying for the company to locate in their cities for the past four months.

Hoffman said St. Joseph was picked because of its infrastructure, especially its wastewater treatment rates, other infrastructure, and transportation amenities.

&uot;The location of St. Joseph fit well for our distribution area,&uot; Hoffman said. &uot;Most of our customers are on the east and west coasts as well as in the south.&uot;

&uot;Most of our producers are in southern Minnesota and Iowa,&uot; he said. &uot;If it were up to them, we’d locate the plant there, but we needed to think about what would be best for our distribution.&uot;

The city of St. Joseph offered $7 million in tax increment financing as well as state funded incentives. Albert Lea had packaged $5.5 million in incentives with $1 million in state grants.