Lockheed Martin may add 3,000 Georgia jobs
A major defense contractor hosted Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday to thank him for a new tax break that could be worth more than $50 million.
Earlier this year, state lawmakers passed and the Republican governor signed a law that would expand the tax breaks available to "high-impact aerospace defense" projects in hopes of aiding a bid for new defense projects at the Marietta plant operated by Lockheed Martin Corp.
Then-Rep. Bert Reeves told lawmakers at the time that Maryland-based Lockheed Martin hoped to bid to build all or part of a new generation of military jets at the Cobb County plant, which opened in 1943 to build bombers and was taken over by Lockheed in 1951. Today the 4,500-employee complex builds C-130J military transport aircraft and assembles fuselages for F-35 fighters that are finished elsewhere.
Lockheed Martin officials were less specific on their plans for the future Thursday, saying they hoped to bid for any new defense work that would bolster employment in Marietta. They and Kemp touted the company's addition of 150 employees over the last year at a branch of Lockheed's "skunk works" development team.
Kemp said future Lockheed projects could add as many as 3,000 jobs and $1.6 billion in investment.
The law allows Lockheed Martin to claim up to $100 million in state income tax credits against investments, as long as it invests at least $800 million, as well as to claim Georgia's job tax credits for any new jobs it creates. Before Kemp signed the law, Lockheed would have been limited to either $50 million in investment tax credits or the job tax credits.
"It helps us to compete to win those contracts and the economic impact that comes back and the residuals that you get off of that, with other manufacturing and residual jobs, is just incredible," Kemp told reporters afterward.
Alabama plant adds 200 jobs
An east Alabama cabinet factory is planning a $15 million expansion that will create more than 200 new jobs, Gov. Kay Ivey's office said Thursday.
Wellborn Cabinet Inc., a family-owned business which already employs more than 1,300 people in rural Clay County, will add four buildings to its plant in Ashland, which makes bath and kitchen cabinets. The project includes a mill, a paint facility, day care and health facilities.
Ivey and other officials joined the company for a groundbreaking at Wellborn Cabinet, the largest industrial employer in the county and a leading U.S. cabinet maker. It began in Clay County six decades ago.
The expansion is expected to be finished in 2022.
Tyson expands into Virginia
Tyson Foods will invest $300 million to establish a manufacturing facility in Virginia's Pittsylvania County, a project expected to create 376 new jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Thursday.
The Arkansas-based company plans a 325,000-square-foot (30,200-square meter) facility at Cane Creek Centre, an industrial park jointly owned by the county and the city of Danville, and is committing to purchase 60 million pounds (27 million kilograms) of Virginia-grown chicken over the next three years, officials said in a statement.
Virginia competed with North Carolina for the project.
"Tyson Foods has been a major employer in Virginia for more than five decades and continues its growth trajectory with this new operation in Danville-Pittsylvania County, creating hundreds of quality jobs for the citizens of Southern Virginia," Northam said in a statement. "We look forward to many years of success."
Matt Rowe, economic development director for the county, said average annual salaries for the positions will be substantially above the prevailing average wage in the county at around $40,000 to $45,000, the Danville Register & Bee reported.
Tyson will make fully cooked foods including Any'tizer Snacks and chicken nuggets. Raw product will be brought into the facility, Rowe said, stressing that it will not be a slaughterhouse.
Headquartered in Springdale, Arkansas, Tyson employs more than 2,000 people across Virginia in its hatchery, grain, and processing operations - in Richmond-area Henrico County and on the state's Eastern Shore.
- Compiled by Dave Flessner