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Supreme
Court clears way for FedEx hub
Catawba
County lands new paper-products manufacturer
ABB expands
in Wake County
Economic
Development News
Four new
plants to create 2,700 jobs
Universal
Leaf North America broke ground recently for a $100 million
tobacco warehouse and processing plant in Nash County that
will create 1,000 new jobs. The development was the largest of
four economic development announcements by international
companies which said they plan to invest a total of more than
$350 million in the state’s economy and create 2,700 new
jobs.
Universal Leaf, a tobacco processor, plans to build a new
state-of-the-art facility that will draw 1,000 workers from
Nash and surrounding counties including Edgecombe, Halifax,
Franklin, Wilson and Warren. The average annual salary of the
plant employees is expected to be $28,000.
Earlier, Gov. Mike Easley
announced that Japan-based Viscotec Automotive Products will
locate its first North Carolina facility in Burke County,
creating 200 jobs and a $50 million investment. The company
will occupy a 217,500-square-foot facility in Morganton and
plans to begin operation in the spring of next year.
Easley visited New Bern and
unveiled an expansion of BSH Home Appliances Corp., which will
create more than 1,400 news jobs and a $150 million
investment. The company, the third largest manufacturer of
household appliances in the world, will expand its Craven
County operations over five years. The company already has
invested $50 million in New Bern and employs about 400
workers.
Easley also announced the
dedication of BorgWarner Turbo Systems new North American
headquarters and technology center in Asheville, bringing 100
new high-skilled jobs and a $50 million investment to Western
North Carolina. The facility is an expansion of the
company’s existing manufacturing and distribution facilities
in South Asheville. The new headquarters and technology center
will be housed in a 23,000 square foot, state-of-the-art
facility and will hold test facilities for engines, engine
systems and turbochargers.
Supreme
Court clears way for Fed-Ex hub
The
state Supreme Court has cleared the way for Fed-Ex to begin
construction of its air-cargo hub Piedmont Triad International
Airport by ruling that the condemnation of a resident’s lot
near the runway meets a public purpose. The Piedmont Triad
Airport Authority (PTAA) has agreed to build the $300 million
sorting facility and lease it to FedEx, and sought to condemn
a Kent Urbine’s two-acre lot in Guilford County for the hub.
The case is No. 367PA00.
Urbine's attorney argued the airport authority wanted
Urbine’s land for a private company rather than a public
purpose. But a unanimous court disagreed. The justices pointed
out the state Constitution provides for the expansion of
airports and seaports. And it found that the airport authority
-- not FedEx -- will own the property and FedEx will simply
continue to be an airport tenant. James Exum Jr., the former
chief justice who argued the case for the airport authority,
said the case was important in two respects: It reconciled two
sections of the state Constitution involving the expansion of
airports and the condemnation of property only for public use;
and it authorized the leasing of airport property to private
businesses. "The court makes it clear that airports can
expand and improve. They can lease land to private companies
... so long as that's the purpose of the airport," Exum
said.
Maready also argued that Urbine's land was part of an
incentive package that violated the interstate-commerce clause
of the U.S. Constitution by giving FedEx an advantage that its
interstate competitors didn't enjoy. Ted Johnson, the
executive director of the airport authority, said that the
airport can proceed to obtain a series of needed permits now
that it has the court's permission to take two acres in the
middle of the 160-acre site for the hub.
In the opinion written by Justice
G.K. Butterfield Jr., the court said, “We are aware that
the timing of the events surrounding this condemnation
proceeding point to an inference that the property is being
acquired to prepare for the accommodation of an expanded
Federal Express facility. Our review of the facts leads us to
the conclusion, consistent with that of the trial court, that
the condemnation proceeding arises from PTAA's long-range plan
to develop air-cargo facilities as called for in the master
plan. While the overtures from Federal Express may have
hastened the timing of this development, they are not the
genesis of PTAA's actions.”
Catawba
County lands new paper-products manufacturer
The
von Drehle Corp. of Hickory will construct a $6.5 million
commercial-paper products facility in Catawba County and hire
up to 70 workers. Officials said the 150,000-square-foot
facility, to be constructed on Highway 321 in the town of
Maiden, will convert large paper rolls into products that can
be used in paper towel dispensers or for other commercial
purposes. The company will utilize an industrial revenue bond
to finance the facility. The firm will be eligible for tax
credits under the state's William S. Lee Quality Jobs and
Business Expansion Act.
ABB
expands operations in Wake County
Swiss-based
ABB Inc. will locate a new accounting shared services center
in Cary and add staff to the U.S. headquarters of its new
Group Process Service Center in Raleigh, employing about 150
people and investing almost $5 million. The accounting center
will handle all accounting for the company's U.S. operations,
which employ more than 15,000 people, and will employ about
130 workers. The group processes center, which was established
in Raleigh in June, currently employs 1,100 people and plans
to add about 25 more. ABB Inc., which has operations in more
than 100 countries, had three other facilities in the Raleigh
area, a utilities division, a power technology division and an
automation technology division. The company's expansion may
qualify for tax credits under state law.
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