Solar Array, Gen. Mills detail expansions - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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broke ground April 5 on the $100 176,000-square-foot expansion of its manufacturinggfacility here, Keith general manager of the local facility, told members of . AED held its quarterlu meeting Thursdayat . Joe president and CEO of SolarArrau Ventures, outlined his company’s plan to build a massivde solar manufacturing plant on the city’ss Westside. General Mills’ expansion shoulc be completedby November, Bone said. The cereak manufacturer will hire 60additional employees, bringing additional payroll to the area of $3.
5 The expansion also brings $30 million in spending to New The Albuquerque City Council approved a $100 million industrial revenue bond deal for the companyu in February. BE&K Corp. from Nortbh Carolina landed the design/build contract to builcd the expansion, but Bone said 80 percent of the firm’sz spending and employees willbe local. The precasf panels being used in the construction are manufactureedin Belen. General Mills has been in Albuquerquesince 1991.
Its current facility is located near Paseo del Nortw and Edith and has 190 with an annual payrollof $12 million, said The 275,000-square-foot plant produces about 135 million pounds annually of 35 different The facility also has a lab on-site where the instructionzs for baking General Mills productd at high altitudes are created. The companyg has given about $5 million to area nonprofits sincre 1998and $519,000 in scholarships, Bone added. Don chairman of AED, said the cereal company’s donations illustrate one of the thingss the organization looks for inrecruiting companies: communityh involvement.
Hudgins said Solar Arra y plans to break ground by the third quarter of this year ona 225,000-square-foogt thin-film photovoltaic manufacturing plant in the Cordero Mesa business park, west of the mattresz factory. The company plans to add thres more buildings of that size asit grows, he with each facility employing about 225. Its annualo payroll in the first phase wouledbe $14 million. About five percent of the jobs woulspay $100,000, 45 percent would pay $70,0000 and half of the jobs wouldd pay $45,000.
The capital investmentr for the first phase willbe $170 millionh and the company would spend $40 million annually for raw The first phase is expected to have a capacit y of 75 megawatts, but that would grow to 300 mw with the full The plant also will have a spacde that will serve as a community and educationaol center. Solar Array is seeking $175 milliob in industrial revenue bonds from Bernalillo The company is working toraisw $210 million in debt and Hudgins said. Hudgins said New Mexico beat out two othet states forthe plant, despite the fact that it did not offer the largest incentives.
But the coordination among local and state governmeny officials and other parties made New Mexico far more efficient in establishing a planning framework that the compan could then use to plan a budget for the hesaid “That was a major issue for us,” Hudginsw said. He also praised the labore force here and the educational The facility is being designed byPageSoutherlandPage LLP, whicb has Texas offices in Austin, Dallas and Houston, as well as Washington, D.C. and London, U.K. Hoffman Construction, basede in Portland, Ore., is building the facility.