News

Mills River in line to get 172 more jobs

Andrew Tate, president of the Partnership for Economic Development, explains the Project Granite proposal to the Mills River Town Board.

By Bill Moss, Published: January 23, 2015

MILLS RIVER — Mills River is in line to get a $27 million industrial plant, expanding the northern Henderson County town's economic development boom with 172 more jobs.

The Mills River Town Council in a special called meeting on Friday morning endorsed $34,176 in economic development incentives over seven years to induce the company to finalize a move to the town and hire workers at or above the county's average manufacturing wage of $35,200. The Henderson County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday set a hearing for Feb. 2 on a request from the Partnership for Economic Development to offer $783,625 in incentives over seven years. A state jobs incentive program is also in the works, Andrew Tate, president of the Henderson County industry recruiting agency, told the Mills River Town Board.
Tate said the partnership has been working with the company, code-named Project Granite, since last summer. “They have looked at multiple sites within the area and the one that they have focused on is in the town of Mills River,” he said. If it decides to locate the plant in Mills River, it is expected to break ground soon and hire as many as 70 people this year.
The company's $27.1 million investment would include $10.7 million for the plant and $16.5 million in machinery and equipment. The figure does not include land acquisition, Tate said.
"These funds, it's important to remind people, are self-funded and performance-based," Tate said. "As the company pays taxes they would be eligible for the payment of the grant. They're performance-based because if the company fails to meet investment or employment or wage obligations they would not be eligible for the grant payment."
"We think the bulk of the construction would take place this calendar year and some employment would take place this year," he said. Once incentives from the county and state are finalized, the company will make public more detail, he added.
"There will be customized training through Blue Ridge Community College that will be directly linked and aligned with the needs of this company," he said. People interested in a job may apply through BRCC when the project is finalized.
When Mills River Mayor Pro Tem Shanon Gonce asked if the plant would be in direct competition with any other local business, Tate said no. The partnership chief would not disclose the exact location or whether the site is in Ferncliff Industrial Park, whose first and only plant so far is the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Project Granite is not a business related to the craft beer industry, he said.

The prospect of 175 new jobs would add another trophy Mills River's success in attracting new business. In 2014 Sierra Nevada and Empire Distributors began operations and an international partnership of American, Italian and Israeli companies called Tri-Hishtil announced a plant-grafting operation that will bring 125 jobs to a 42-acre site on N.C. 191.