(KAIR)--A Leavenworth County-based business, and a state agency, receives praise from Kansas Governor Laura Kelly after earning national recognition.

Tonganoxie’s Hill’s Pet Nutrition and the Kansas Department of Commerce are named as recipients of the Business Facilities 2021 Deal of the Year Impact Award in the Specialty Manufacturing category for Hill’s expansion, and investment, in Tonganoxie.

Kelly, in a release, calls the business a continuing “game-changer in helping grow the Animal Health Corridor and bringing new jobs, new investment, and new expertise to” Kansas, adding that the “impressive recognition is further proof of the significance of Hill’s presence and its impact throughout Kansas.” The Impact Awards, according to the release, “recognize both economic development organizations for their efforts to secure private investments in their state and the company for the impact on the local community through investment.”

The release calls Business Facilities “a nationally recognized resource that provides comprehensive project location information to corporate site selectors and economic development professionals.”

Last year in June, Hill’s Pet Nutrition announced plans to build what the release calls “a new, sustainably designed wet pet food manufacturing plant at the Tonganoxie Business Park, investing more than $325 million in the 300,000 square foot facility. It’s expected to generate at least 80 new jobs by 2025, making them one of the largest employers in Tonganoxie.

The pet food plant was one of 321 projects, and nearly $3.8 billion in planned capital investment statewide that made 2021 what the release calls “the most successful business year in Kansas history.”

A committee of nationally recognized site consultants selected this year's winners from a record-setting number of submissions.