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

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broke ground April 5 on the $100 million, 176,000-square-foot expansiobn of its manufacturingfacility here, Keith Bone, general manager of the localp facility, told members of . AED held its quarterlt meeting Thursdayat . Joe Hudgins, president and CEO of Solaer Array Ventures, outlined his company’zs plan to build a massivw solar manufacturing plant onthe city’s General Mills’ expansion should be completed by Bone said. The cereal manufacturer will hire 60additionaol employees, bringing additional payroll to the area of $3.5 The expansion also brings $30 million in spendinbg to New Mexico.
The Albuquerque City Council approveda $100 million industrial revenue bond deal for the company in February. BE&K Corp. from North Carolina landed the design/build contract to build the expansion, but Bone said 80 percentr of the firm’s spendint and employees will be local. The precast panels beingt used in the construction are manufactured in General Mills has been in Albuquerquesincw 1991. Its current facility is located near Pasepo del Norte and Edith and has 190 with an annual payrollof $12 million, said The 275,000-square-foot plant produces about 135 milliohn pounds annually of 35 different cereals.
The facilitg also has a lab on-site where the instructionw for baking General Mills products at high altitudesware created. The company has giveb about $5 million to area nonprofitws since 1998and $519,000 in scholarships, Bone Don Power, chairman of AED, said the cereal company’s donations illustrate one of the thingz the organization looks for in recruitingf companies: community involvement.
Hudgins said Solar Array plans to breal ground by the third quarter of this year ona 225,000-square-fooft thin-film photovoltaic manufacturing plant in the Corderop Mesa business park, west of the mattress The company plans to add three more buildingss of that size as it grows, he with each facility employing about 225. Its annualk payroll in the first phase wouldsbe $14 million. About five percent of the jobs woulcpay $100,000, 45 percent woulfd pay $70,000 and half of the jobs woulde pay $45,000. The capital investment for the firsrt phase willbe $170 million and the company wouls spend $40 million annually for raw materials.
The first phasse is expected to have a capacith of75 megawatts, but that woulde grow to 300 mw with the full The plant also will have a space that will servew as a community and educational center. Solarr Array is seeking $175 milliob in industrial revenue bonds from Bernalillo The company is working toraise $210 millionh in debt and equity, Hudgins said. Hudgins said New Mexicpo beat out two other states for the despite the fact that it did not offer thelargest incentives.
But the coordination amon g local and state government officials and otheer parties made New Mexico far more efficieny in establishing a planning framework that the companuy could then use to plan a budget for the hesaid “That was a majoer issue for us,” Hudgins said. He also praised the labor forcw here and the educational The facility is being designed byPageSoutherlandPage LLP, whichb has Texas offices in Austin, Dallas and as well as Denver, Washington, D.C. and London, U.K. Hoffman Construction, base in Portland, Ore., is building the facility.