Aurora Flight Sciences expanding in Lowndes County, Miss.

Posted on by Michael Randle

Aerosystems manufacturing company Aurora Flight Sciences is expanding in Columbus. The project is a $43,794,998 investment and will create 63 new jobs.

The company is adding 50,000 square feet of new manufacturing space onto its existing aerosystems production facility. The company also is refurbishing 40,000 square feet, adding new equipment and machining and improving its automated fiber placement technology.

The Mississippi Development Authority is providing assistance through the Mississippi Flexible Tax Incentive, or MFLEX, program. AccelerateMS and Lowndes County also are assisting with the project.

A subsidiary of Boeing, Aurora Flight Sciences designs, builds and flies advanced aircraft and enabling technologies for commercial and defense applications. The company opened its Columbus facility in 2005. Mississippi Development Authority

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Greensboro-born Foster Caviness confirms it will move HQ, expand in Winston-Salem

Posted on by Michael Randle

Greensboro-born Fresh food distributor Foster Caviness is adding a 165,000 square foot expansion at a site being vacated by another food company in Winston-Salem, investing about $6.25 million over five years and adding an expected 165 jobs, the company confirmed Friday.

The new facility, at 2900 Lowry St., will be for the company’s supply chain division known as Foster360. Foster Caviness will add several ripening rooms, expand the cold-storage capacity and make other improvements.

Foster Caviness plans to keep its operations at the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market in Colfax and move its headquarters to the new site, Marketing Director Chris Fuss told Triad Business Journal. In addition to the 165 new jobs, the company plans to move 140 jobs from Colfax to Winston-Salem for a total of 305 jobs. Triad Business Journal

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Elon Musk’s X Is Leaving San Francisco. City Officials Say ‘Good Riddance.’

Posted on by Michael Randle

San Francisco’s long relationship with X is nearly over — and city officials are far from heartbroken.

Elon Musk is shuttering his social media company’s headquarters in a gritty downtown neighborhood in the coming weeks and will move its last employees based there south to offices in Palo Alto and San Jose. New headquarters will be set up in Texas.

But city officials are not lamenting the exit. X bears little resemblance to the company that San Francisco wooed with a tax break more than a decade ago, when it was Twitter, to help anchor a budding tech hub in a downtrodden neighborhood near City Hall known as Mid-Market. The pandemic, and Mr. Musk’s 2022 acquisition of the company and subsequent gutting of its work force, reduced the headquarters to a ghost town.

“I share the perspective that most San Franciscans have, which is good riddance,” said City Attorney David Chiu, who as a member of the city’s Board of Supervisors backed the tax break that lured Twitter to Mid-Market in 2012.

Twitter once symbolized San Francisco’s status as a start-up capital. But the city’s nonchalant response to the move — amid public posts from Mr. Musk about San Francisco’s inflexible tax policies and liberal politics — shows officials are now less willing to cater to companies considering a move. The New York Times

highlights the best of development across the region and the main players behind those projects.He founded Pappas Properties in 1999, after seven years as partner at The Harris Group, where he led development and marketing for high-profile properties such as Phillips Place, Ballantyne, Morrocroft and 330 South Tryon. At Pappas Properties, he has developed more than 3 million square feet of retail, office and residential space, including Metropolitan in midtown Charlotte, Sharon Square in SouthPark and Berewick, a master-planned community in Steele Creek. And, in 2013, he joined Ron Terwilliger to create Terwilliger Pappas, a multifamily development firm that has developed 24 communities in five markets. Charlotte Business Journal

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Georgia Power is drilling holes more than a mile underground. Here’s why

Posted on by Michael Randle

At a trio of spots in rural Georgia, the state’s largest utility is boring holes thousands of feet into the Earth’s crust.

The purpose isn’t to suck up water or to hunt for rare minerals. Instead, Georgia Power is testing to see if the rocks as much as 2 miles down might be a suitable place to store carbon dioxide produced by its oil- and gas-fired power plants, instead of allowing the heat-trapping gas to escape into the atmosphere.

In recent weeks, the company has drilled boreholes in rural Georgia to evaluate whether sites are suitable for geologic carbon sequestration. It’s a technique in which carbon dioxide — the main greenhouse gas emitted by burning fossil fuels — is captured, compressed into a liquid-like state and then injected into porous rock. If CO2 from a smokestack can be collected and pumped underground, the idea is stashing it in rocks will prevent worsening global warming.While Georgia Power and its parent — Southern Company — say the testing is preliminary, the federal government is pumping millions into advancing carbon storage and new, more lucrative tax credits are available for companies that pursue it. At the same time Georgia Power and other utilities add more fossil fuels to their energy mix, new emissions limits for power plants could force many to capture and store the CO2 they produce to remain in operation. Atlanta Journal Constitution

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Lockheed Martin marks 70 years of C-130 aircraft in flight and built in Georgia

Posted on by Michael Randle

Inside the cavernous Lockheed Martin aircraft manufacturing plant at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, employees Thursday celebrated nearly 70 years of flight for the C-130 tactical airlifter — built in Marietta as the longest-running military aircraft production line in history.

Since the first flight on Aug. 23, 1954, of the large turboprop plane now known as the Hercules, it has been used to drop bombs, spy on targets and attack them with cannons, according to Lockheed Martin. It has also been used for humanitarian missions around the world.

Its cargo hold is fully pressurized and can be reconfigured to carry troops, passengers, equipment or stretchers. Its longevity is due to its versatility for a variety of missions.

Rod McLean, Lockheed Martin’s vice president and general manager of the Marietta site, said the anniversary “just signifies how Lockheed Martin is one of the key cornerstones of Cobb County and the metro Atlanta region’s economy.”

In Cobb County, there are daily flights overhead of C-130s used for training by air reserve crews at Dobbins, or for test flights of new C-130Js just built. Atlanta Journal Constitution

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Company investing $47.9 million in manufacturing facility in Spartanburg, S.C.

Posted on by Michael Randle

COLUMBIA, S.C. – BENTELER Automotive Corporation (BENTELER), a leading global automotive supplier, today announced it is expanding its Spartanburg County operations. The $47.9 million investment will improve the company’s manufacturing and assembly facility.

Part of the global metal processing specialist BENTELER Group, BENTELER’s Spartanburg plant supplies automotive-welded assemblies and modules to automobile manufacturers globally. The company’s products include chassis systems, structures, exhaust systems and engine applications. South Carolina Department of Commerce

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Billion Investment for New Manufacturing campus in Wilson County, N.C.

Posted on by Michael Randle

Johnson & Johnson (J&J), a world-leading healthcare company, announced it will create 420 jobs in Wilson County. The company says it will invest more than $2 billion in a new pharmaceutical manufacturing campus for innovative biologics in the City of Wilson.

“We welcome this tremendous investment by Johnson & Johnson as they expand their global manufacturing footprint,” said Governor Cooper. “Life sciences leaders continue to select North Carolina because our world-class workforce will help the company successfully produce innovative medicines that will make a profound impact on our state and patients around the world.”

With expertise in Innovative Medicine and MedTech, Johnson & Johnson is uniquely positioned to innovate across the full spectrum of healthcare solutions today to deliver the breakthroughs of tomorrow, and profoundly impact health for humanity. EDP of North Carolina

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Raleigh company will move to Eastern NC, open new factory

Posted on by Michael Randle

Fertilizer startup Phinite is planning a $5.5 million manufacturing facility in Turkey, North Carolina, a small town that in the coming months will become the Raleigh company’s new headquarters.

Phinite is moving into a 69,000-square-foot facility that used to house Allen Canning Company. The site, vacant for a decade, was picked due to its proximity to Interstate 40 and railroads. The goal is to have sustainable, odorless fertilizer made from pig manure coming off the production lines next year.

The facility upfit is being supported by a state Building Reuse Grant worth $180,000. In the next 18 months, the company plans to hire 23 employees.

“Most of them will be in Sampson County with the processing facility,” CEO Jordan Phasey said. Triangle Business Journal

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Texas employment forecast predicts 348,000 new jobs this year

Posted on by Michael Randle

The year is coming to a close, but Texas job growth isn’t finished yet. A new forecast from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas indicates Texas will end the year with over 348,000 new jobs, with almost 40,000 of those added last month alone.

The report from the Federal Reserve states that the bank’s forecast is based on “an average of four models that include projected national gross domestic product, oil futures prices and the Texas and U.S. leading indexes.”

The forecast estimates jobs will increase by 2.5% by the end of 2024, with 348,900 jobs added in the state this year. The forecast also has a confidence band of 2.3% to 2.7%. Employment in December 2024 is expected to hit 14.4 million jobs, with 3% growth expected for the remainder of the year. San Antonio Business Journal

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Duracell eyes Georgia Tech’s Science Square for new R&D facility

Posted on by Michael Randle

One of the largest U.S. battery manufacturers is in talks to bring a research and development facility to a new $1 billion project at Georgia Tech, another sign Georgia is becoming a hub for battery technology. 

Chicago-based Duracell Inc. could bring 110 jobs to the life sciences district Science Square, said sources with knowledge of the deal. The Development Authority of Fulton County is expected to consider incentives to help lure the project to Atlanta during a meeting on Oct. 22. It’s listed on an agenda under the code name “Project Phoenix,” which sources confirmed is the potential deal with Duracell. Atlanta Business Chronicle

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