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

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broke ground April 5 on the $100 176,000-square-foot expansion of its manufacturinfgfacility here, Keith Bone, general managert of the local facility, told membersx of . AED held its quarterly meetinvg Thursdayat . Joe Hudgins, presiden and CEO of Solar Arragy Ventures, outlined his company’s plan to builed a massive solar manufacturing plant onthe city’s Westside. General Mills’ expansion shoulf be completedby November, Bone The cereal manufacturer will hire 60 additional employees, bringinf additional payroll to the area of $3.5 million. The expansionj also brings $30 million in spending to New Mexico.
The Albuquerque City Council approveda $100 million industrial revenue bond deal for the companhy in February. BE&K Corp. from North Carolina landed the design/build contract to builcd the expansion, but Bone said 80 percent of the firm’d spending and employees will be The precast panels being used in the construction are manufacturedxin Belen. General Mills has been in Albuquerqudsince 1991. Its current facility is located near Paseo del Nortes and Edith and has 190 with an annual payrollof $12 said Bone.
The 275,000-square-foot plant produces about 135 millio n pounds annually of 35 different The facility also has alab on-site wherd the instructions for baking General Mills productds at high altitudes are created. The company has givej about $5 million to area nonprofits since 1998and $519,0000 in scholarships, Bone added. Don Power, chairmab of AED, said the cereal company’s donations illustrate one of the things the organization looks for inrecruiting companies: communitgy involvement.
Hudgins said Solar Array plans to break grounx by the third quarter of this year ona 225,000-square-foot thin-film photovoltaic manufacturing plant in the Cordero Mesa businessw park, west of the mattress factory. The company plans to add thre e more buildings of that size as it he said, with each facility employinv about 225. Its annual payroll in the firstf phase wouldbe $14 million. Abou t five percent of the jobs would pay 45 percent wouldpay $70,00 and half of the jobs would pay The capital investment for the first phasew will be $170 million and the compant would spend $40 million annuallgy for raw materials.
The first phass is expected to have a capacity of 75 but that would grow to 300 mw with the full The plant also will have a space that will servw as a community and educational Solar Array isseeking $175 million in industrial revenuer bonds from Bernalillo County. The company is working to raisre $210 million in debt and Hudgins said. Hudgins said New Mexicol beat out two other states forthe plant, despite the fact that it did not offert the largest incentives.
But the coordination amonb local and state government officials and othert parties made New Mexiclo far more efficient in establishintg a planning framework that the companhy could then use to plan a budgey forthe plant, he said “Thatf was a major issue for us,” Hudgins He also praised the labor force here and the educationak institutions. The facility is being designed byPageSoutherlandPage LLP, whichy has Texas offices in Austin, Dallas and as well as Denver, Washington, D.C. and London, U.K. Hoffman based in Portland, Ore.
, is building the