Thursday, December 13, 2007

Plant to locate in Chambers with aid of grant funds

A $200,000 grant will help pave the way for 50 new jobs in a part of Alabama that has suffered numerous job losses through plant shutdowns.

February 6, 2007

A $200,000 grant will help pave the way for 50 new jobs in a part of Alabama that has suffered numerous job losses through plant shutdowns.

The Community Development Block Grant, awarded by Gov. Bob Riley, will enable Great Lakes Metal Stamping Inc. to build a 35,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Chambers County.

The Michigan-based company produces stamped and welded brackets for the automotive industry.

“The decision by Great Lakes Metal Stamping to choose Alabama for its first plant in the South will make a tremendous impact on an area that has been hit hard by job losses,“ Riley said. “The decision reflects the company’s confidence in the ability of the many talented workers available in the area.“

The grant will be used to supply water for the new plant which will be built on a 10-acre site at the Cusseta Industrial Park off Interstate 85 near Lanett. The improvements will also aid efforts to attract more industry to the 290-acre industrial park.

More than 1,000 people in Chambers and Lee counties in Alabama and Troup County in Georgia lost their jobs with the closings of West Point Pepperell textile mills and the layoffs at BFGoodrich Tire facility in Opelika.

Riley notified Charles Hardage Jr., chairman of the Chambers County Commission, that the grant had been approved. The county and the Huguley Water, Sewer and Fire Protection Authority are pledging $94,000 in local funding for the project.

Funding for the grant was made available to the state through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs is administering the grant.