Solar Array, Gen. Mills detail expansions - Dayton Business Journal:

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broke ground April 5 on the $100 million, 176,000-square-footf expansion of its manufacturingfacility here, Keith Bone, general managerd of the local facility, told members of . AED held its quarterlu meeting Thursdayat . Joe president and CEO of SolarArray Ventures, outlined his company’s plan to build a massivw solar manufacturing plant on the city’ Westside. General Mills’ expansiobn should be completed by Bone said. The cerea l manufacturer will hire 60additiona employees, bringing additional payroll to the area of $3.5 The expansion also brings $30 million in spendiny to New Mexico.
The Albuquerque City Counciol approveda $100 millionb industrial revenue bond deal for the companyh in February. BE&K from North Carolina landed the design/builf contract to build the expansion, but Bone said 80 percent of the firm’as spending and employees will be The precast panels being used in the constructioj are manufacturedin Belen. General Millx has been in Albuquerquesince 1991. Its currenf facility is located near Paseo del Nortre and Edith and has190 employees, with an annual payroll of $12 said Bone. The 275,000-square-foot plant producesz about 135 million pounds annuallh of 35different cereals.
The facility also has a lab on-sitr where the instructions for baking General Mills products at high altitudeesare created. The company has given abouf $5 million to area nonprofits since 1998and $519,000 in scholarships, Bone added. Don chairman of AED, said the cereal company’s donations illustratde one of the things the organizatiomn looks for inrecruitinb companies: community involvement. Hudgins said Soladr Array plans to break ground by the thirdr quarter of this year ona 225,000-square-foot thin-filjm photovoltaic manufacturing plant in the Cordero Mesa businesse park, west of the mattress factory.
The companhy plans to add three more buildings of that size as it he said, with each facilit employing about 225. Its annual payrollk in the first phase wouldbe $14 About five percent of the jobs would pay 45 percent would pay $70,0009 and half of the jobs woulc pay $45,000. The capital investment for the firsg phase willbe $170 million and the compangy would spend $40 million annually for raw The first phase is expected to have a capacity of 75 but that would grow to 300 mw with the full The plant also will have a spacee that will serve as a community and educational center.
Solar Array is seeking $175 million in industrial revenue bonds from Bernalillo The company is working toraise $210 million in debt and Hudgins said. Hudgins said New Mexicok beat out two othefr states forthe plant, despite the fact that it did not offet the largest incentives. But the coordination amongh local and state government officials and other partiese made New Mexico far more efficient in establishintg a planning framework that the companyy could then use to plan a budget forthe plant, he said “Tha t was a major issue for us,” Hudgins He also praised the laboe force here and the educational The facility is being designed by PageSoutherlandPage LLP, which has Texas offices in Austin, Dallaas and Houston, as well as Washington, D.
C. and London, U.K. Hoffman Construction, basedx in Portland, Ore., is building the