new jobs en route to logan

Hi mates,
I´ve just found:

By ROBYN L. MINOR, The Daily News
On Thursday, the state gave preliminary approval to economic development incentives intended to lure a new industry to Logan County. Today, the company will announce it’s coming to the county.

MHM Limited will locate in a 150,000-square-foot industrial building that has been vacant since 1984. The building on Ky. 79 formerly housed ITW, a manufacturer of screws and fasteners.

The Australian-based MHM will break down byproducts from area aluminum facilities and sell them to industrial users, rather than sending them to a landfill, according to documents from the state.

“We consider it a wonderful thing to have a building this size ... with only 16-foot-tall ceilings and be able to market it,” Logan County Judge-Executive Logan Chick said.

Initially, the company plans to hire 25 to 30 people, who would be paid an average base wage of $10.88 to $12.51 an hour, plus benefits.

“That’s just initially,” Chick said. “This company is talking about the possibility of another 50 within another year.”

Chick said the company selected Logan County because it is in the midst of aluminum plants, including Logan Aluminum and one nearby in Hawesville. There also are plants in Louisville, Tennessee and Alabama, all within a relatively short drive.

Another attraction to the site is that it has a rail siding for R.J. Corman’s shortline, Chick said.

The company is expected to be a fairly large power user, but for now will be supplied by Pennyrile Rural Electric. Chick said that could change at some point to being a direct customer of Tennessee Valley Authority. He doesn’t think it will be a major water user. The property, however, does still have an old water tower that used to be painted with ITW.

At one point, there was a group of investors interested in the site for production of gasohol when there was the potential for federal stimulus money, but that project fell through.

“I think this company is wanting to move real fast,” Chick said. “It was a fast-moving project ever since we got the telephone call that they were interested in looking at sites.”

Chick said he expects production would begin in 2013.

The total investment in the project is expected to be about $25 million, with $850,000 for the property, $4.1 million for building and improvements, $20 million for equipment and $150,000 in other costs, according to state documents.

Chick said the company is expected to use the existing building for warehouse and offices. A separate building will be constructed for the manufacturing process.

For its investment, the company qualified for a total of $825,000 in tax incentives from state and local governments over a 10-year period.

Chick said the county will still collect a portion of the occupational tax it normally would receive from the jobs.

It has been nearly eight years since Logan County has had a new company move into the county, according to Tom Harned, executive director of the Logan Economic Alliance for Development.

“So this is a big deal,” Harned said.

Harned said he knows the company has already been working aggressively to sign contracts with aluminum industry companies in Kentucky and Tennessee.