Business Facilities - October 2008 - (Page 18)

CORPORATE MOVES Kentucky By Jack Rogers Electric Vehicle Plant Bringing 4,000 Jobs to Simpson County Automotive LLC has I ntegritySimpson new $84-million chosen County, KY, as the location for its facility that will manufacture lowspeed electric vehicles. “This represents an investment not only in Kentucky’s economy, but also in the future of this country,” Gov. Steve Beshear said in announcing the site selection. “The long-term security and economic health of this nation depends in part on its ability to become energy independent. This plant, and the vehicles it’s designed to produce, could be an important part of this strategy.” A tax incentive package worth up to $48 million for the Integrity plant was approved in August by the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority. The new one-million-square-foot manufacturing facility will be built in Franklin, KY, on 225 acres at Franklin Industrial Park. The incentives are based on Integrity’s commitment to create 4,000 new full-time jobs for Kentucky residents within the first four years of the project’s completion. The projected average hourly wage for each new job is approximately $20 per hour, exclusive of benefits. “These are good, high-paying jobs, the kind that have been so important to this state over many years and are even more important in this tough economic period,” Gov. Beshear noted. 18 OCTOBER 2008 Integrity’s new North American manufacturing facility represents a partnership between Integrity Automotive and California-based Zero Air Pollution (ZAP), an electric carmaker currently producing electric vehicles in China. In August, Gov. Beshear signed an executive order permitting the use of lowspeed electric vehicles on Kentucky’s highways with a posted speed limit of 45 mph or less. Integrity and ZAP officials said this order was Gov. Beshear (far right), Integrity CEO Randy Waldman, critical to their and Simpson County officials check out an electric car. decision to choose the Franklin location over a competing site in Indiana. ZAP has been a leader in advanced transportation technologies since 1994, delivering more than 100,000 vehicles to consumers in more than 75 countries. It has positioned its business at the forefront of fuel-efficient transportation with technologies including energyefficient gas systems, as well as electric and hybrid power systems. Campbellsville Operations FLUORTUBING USA to Expand USA, a plastic tubing, is moving part Fluortubingoperationsmaker of Netherlands, FluortubinginB.V.ofofits manufacturing to Campbellsville-Taylor County Kentucky from its subsidiary company in The Utrecht. The $1.1 million investment will allow the company to move from distributing into manufacturing in the U.S., and will expand the company’s local workforce by approximately 25 jobs. A 48,000-square-foot facility has been purchased to house the first phase of the expansion. “Kentucky is proud to have Fluortubing USA choose Taylor County for its expansion,” Gov. Steve Beshear said in announcing the move. “The Taylor County workforce and strong community leadership no doubt played a vital role in making this project possible.” Fluortubing will receive up to $325,000 in tax benefits provided by the Kentucky Rural Economic Development Act, an incentive program designed to increase manufacturing employment and investment in the state. PHOTO CREDIT: COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Business Facilities - October 2008

Business Facilities - October 2008 Contents First Word Snapshots Metro Spotlight: Phoenix, AZ Essential Relocation Tips Metro Spotlight: Fayette County, GA Corporate Moves: Kentucky Austria: Hungry for International Trade Foreign Trade Zones: Global Expansion at Reduced Cost New York is Banking on High-Tech Growth Metro Spotlight: Cuba, MO The Garden State is Growing it's City Centers Information Technology: No Signs of a Slowdown Advertiser Index Inside LiveExchange

Business Facilities - October 2008

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