700 more jobs for Mobile:
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What do you do after landing ThyssenKrupp AG, the biggest industrial prospect in Alabama history? Keep working. Members of the Mobile Industrial Development Board on Wednesday approved tax breaks for three new projects that collectively could create 700 local jobs.
ThyssenKrupp announced last week it would build a proposed $3.7 billion, 2,700-worker steel mill in north Mobile County. IDB members were briefed on the German steelmaker's plans Monday, then met again Wednesday to approve incentive packages for two existing manufacturers and a third that is eyeing Mobile.
The group is led by Austal USA, which is proposing a $34 million expansion of its Mobile shipyard. The project includes construction of a $4 million router shop and a $30 million assembly bay and bulkhead along the Mobile River.
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Austal received a break on local, non-educational property and sales taxes worth an estimated $1.2 million over 10 years, based on the creation of 400 jobs at an average salary of $43,870. The project would raise Austal's total employment to 1,123 workers.
"We've had a lot of wonderful news over the past week, and this is another very exciting project for us," said Bill Sisson, vice president of economic development for the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce.
Construction of the router shop will begin within the next two weeks and be completed within seven to eight months, according to Austal officials. Construction of the assembly bay would begin early next year and take about a year to complete.
EADS CASA received a $1.6 million package of tax breaks tied to construction of a pair of aircraft hangars at Mobile Regional Airport.
The $46.5 million project includes a 38,000-square-foot hangar that will serve as the final delivery center for all EADS CASA aircraft sold to North American customers. The company, a Spanish subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., broke ground on the hangar in April and is scheduled to complete construction by the end of this year.
A second phase of the project would include construction of a 90,000-square-foot aircraft assembly plant, contingent on the company and its partner, Raytheon Corp., winning a contract to build light cargo planes for the U.S. Army and Air Force. A decision is expected by June 7.
If successful, the team would create a minimum of 150 jobs at Mobile Regional paying an average annual salary of about $38,000. EADS CASA currently employs 25 workers in Mobile.
"This is a project that kind of gets overshadowed by some of the other things we have going on, but it really has a lot of long-term potential for our community," said Bay Haas, executive director of the Mobile Airport Authority.
Also Wednesday, the IDB approved a $179,000-package of tax breaks for Southeastern Builders and Developers LLC, a Columbus, Ohio-based company that is evaluating sites for a proposed $9.1 million modular home factory.
Company officials said they've narrowed their search to sites in Theodore, Century, Fla., and Hattiesburg, Miss. Southeastern Builders would assemble modular homes for the booming housing market along the northern Gulf Coast, according to Steve Lambert, the company's president.
"We've identified this area as one of the fastest-growing markets in the country, and we've got to be close to it or else we get eaten up by transportation costs," Lambert said.
The project would create 150 jobs over the next two years at an average annual salary of $36,000, according to the company. Lambert said he expects to choose a location within the next four weeks and have the plant up and running by Oct. 15.