Desi Fresh Foods to open plant in Frederick County, Va.

Posted on by Michael Randle

RICHMOND, VA — Governor Glenn Youngkin announced that Desi Fresh Foods, a leading U.S. producer of dahi, or South Asian yogurt, and lassi, a drinkable South Asian yogurt, will invest a significant amount of money to open a new manufacturing facility to Frederick County, Va. The new facility will create 56 new jobs and allow the company to significantly increase its current production while committing to source a significant amount of dairy ingredients from local Virginia farmers. The Commonwealth successfully competed with Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia for the project.  

“Virginia’s status as the top state for business enables opportunities like this, where we can bring in a leading food manufacturer that will support more routes to market for our dairy farmers while also strengthening the local economy and workforce,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin. “The Commonwealth is committed to business development and the growth of our largest private industry – agriculture. Desi Fresh Foods will be an asset to the community of Frederick County and its local dairies.” Virginia Economic Development Partnership

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Global venue operator tapped to plan out a new Washington Commanders stadium — and how to pay for it

Posted on by Michael Randle

The District has quietly hired a consultant via a sole-source contract to begin laying the foundation for how the city could build and finance a new stadium for the Washington Commanders.

The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development authorized the $565,000 deal with SMG Holdings LLC, an affiliate of entertainment facilities management firm ASM Global, in June.

Los Angeles-based ASM Global agreed to draw up preliminary site plans for the RFK Stadium campus, identify major sources of revenue and operating expenses for the “NFL Tenant,” summarize NFL stadium lease agreements to serve as a baseline for a new RFK stadium deal, and evaluate “potential local and regional funding sources that may be available to the District to fund Stadium development and construction costs.” Washington Business Journal

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AMD’s planned $4.9B acquisition of ZT Systems will impact planned factory north of Austin

Posted on by Michael Randle

Advanced Micro Devices Inc.’s $4.9 billion acquisition of a server builder is expected to have ramifications on one of the largest economic development projects in the region.

The Silicon Valley-based global semiconductor company that’s run from Austin by CEO Lisa Su on Aug. 19 announced it was acquiring New Jersey-based ZT Systems as part of a cash and stock deal as the company seeks to expand its portfolio of artificial intelligence chips. AMD has had a longtime presence in Austin, while ZT Systems has an engineering office and last year purchased a 435,000-square-foot building in Georgetown that it intends to use for manufacturing and could employ 1,500 people.

On a global scale, AMD’s acquisition of ZT Systems was billed as a way for the company to buff up its portfolio of AI chips and hardware to compete with Silicon Valley-based Nvidia Corp., according to Reuters. AI has high-computing requirements that require tech companies to cluster together chips to achieve necessary horsepower, which in turn makes the whole server system important. Adding ZT Systems allows AMD to make that process faster. Austin Business Journal

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Made in Georgia: Charting the state’s manufacturing boom

Posted on by Michael Randle

The Atlanta Business Chronicle will gather leaders in manufacturing and economic development for its first-ever Made in Georgia event.

Made in Georgia/Building Tomorrow’s Economy Today will be held from 3 to 6 p.m. on Oct. 2 at the Signia by Hilton Atlanta Georgia World Congress Center.

The event intends to highlight a historic transformation underway within Georgia’s manufacturing sector. Pat Wilson, commissioner at the Georgia Department of Economic Development, calls this boom the state’s second industrial revolution.

The numbers tell the story. At least 40 e-mobility projects were announced between July 2018 and 2023, bringing more than 30,000 jobs and $25 billion in investments, according to Georgia Economic Development. In recent years, Georgia has landed $28.8 billion in clean energy and tech projects, the most of any state.

The expansion of Georgia’s aerospace manufacturing sector is another economic win. Civilian aircraft remains the state’s leading export, totaling $8.2 billion last year. This one industry has grown by 36% over the past 10 years.

Manufacturing growth is also adding pressure to Georgia’s energy grid. Those issues are compounded by a rapid influx of data centers. Atlanta Business Chronicle

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As immigration angers a north Alabama town, residents seek solutions ‘without all the racial slurs’

Posted on by Michael Randle

About 150 people gathered Tuesday night at an Albertville church, voicing frustrations over what they say is inaction at local, state and federal levels to stem the effects of immigration.

Gerilyinn Hanson, an electrical contractor, was one of the organizers of the meeting. She said it accomplished one of its goals.

“We had it to bring the anger that, a few days ago, was up here,” she said, placing her hand above her head, “to here,” lowering it a few feet down.

“We needed to talk about this without all the racial slurs and without the slang. Because we’re not looking for arguments. We’re looking for solutions.”

The anger Hanson spoke of erupted last week when photographs of people entering and exiting charter buses in Albertville were shared on Facebook, with users questioning what purpose the buses served, who was on them, and where they were coming from.

Poultry producer Pilgrim’s Pride was using charter buses to transport workers to and from its newly expanded Russellville plant. The company later announced it would no longer use the buses. AL.com

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Arkansas Electric Cooperative Details Plans for New Generation Plant in Texas

Posted on by Michael Randle

Arkansas Electric Cooperative Inc.  plans to build a 900-megawatt gas-fueled power plant in Texas, citing a need for more baseload power.

The Little Rock cooperative proposed the next-generation plant for Morris County, Texas. With regulatory approval, construction could begin in summer 2026. The plant, on about 100 acres, could start generating commercial power by 2029.

The generation site fits into AECC’s plan to address wholesale generation needs, the nonprofit said in its announcement. AECC provides wholesale power to the state’s 17 local electric cooperatives.

The generator would be a two-turbine, simple cycle facility within the footprint of Southwest Power Pool. SPP is the regional transmission organization based in Little Rock. The Texas plant will “assist with reliability within the RTO,” AECC’s announcement said. “This new state-of-the-art asset will be among the highest-performing, lowest-emitting and most efficient natural gas plants in AECC’s fleet.” Arkansas Business

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Wild Pastures Locates Distribution Center in Clinton, Arkansas

Posted on by Michael Randle

The State of Arkansas announced that Wild Pastures, a national grass-fed and pasture-raised meat delivery service, is expanding into Arkansas. The company’s move into a 138,000-square-foot facility in Clinton will create 20 new jobs over the next two years. This expansion is a result of increased customer demand and a desire to deliver products more quickly to the growing Southeast market.

In 2013, husband and wife team Dr. Autumn and Chas Smith launched Paleovalley, a healthy food, drink, and supplement company dedicated to helping people get the essential nutrients they need, without added sugars, grains, and other harmful ingredients. In 2018, they launched Wild Pastures, a regenerative meat delivery service based in Erie, Colorado, that sends 100% grass-fed and pasture-raised meat directly to your doorstep. Arkansas EDC

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Why are Fortune 500 companies moving to Houston? Chevron marks the fourth since 2020.

Posted on by Michael Randle

With supermajor Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) planning to move its headquarters from California to Houston, the country’s top three oil and gas supermajors will be headquartered in the Bayou City area.

While the city is no stranger to oil and gas — it is known as the energy capital of the world — the past few years have marked a shift in favor of Houston when it comes to where Fortune 500 companies want to call home.

When Chevron’s relocation becomes effective Jan. 1, 2025, and after corporate functions relocate over the next five years, the company will become the Houston area’s 24th Fortune 500 company, ranking third in the nation, behind the New York and Chicago metros.

Chevron will also become the fourth Fortune 500 company to have relocated to Houston in the past five years: Spring-based Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) moved its headquarters here officially last summer. NRG Energy Inc. (NYSE: NRG) made Houston its sole headquarters in 2021, and Spring-based Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (NYSE: HPE) moved here from California in 2020. Houston Business  Journal

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TIAA shifting Denver jobs to new North Texas office

Posted on by Michael Randle

FRISCO, Texas — The financial firm TIAA is expanding its presence in North Texas.

The company this week confirmed that it will close its downtown Denver office in 2026 as it transitions most of those roles to its new Frisco corporate office, which is located in The Star development near the Dallas Cowboys training facility.

“Closing TIAA’s Denver office in 2026, instead of when the lease ends in 2029, will provide substantial savings in rent and operational costs – savings which TIAA can then invest in business needs and serve the best interests of our clients,” TIAA officials said in a statement. “We made this announcement now to give our associates as much notice as we could.”

The announcement comes on the heels of TIAA opening its Frisco office last week. The office, located at 6303 Cowboys Way, will be staffed in a phased approach, according to company officials.

Employees at TIAA’s Denver office will have the option to relocate to the Frisco office. TIAA officials aid they’ll keep a presence in Denver for employees whose primary job is to meet in-person with clients.

The Denver Business Journal reported that TIAA’s exit out of Denver could impact around 1,000 jobs, with most of those being part of the relocation to Frisco.

TIAA’s new office in Frisco is a 15-story building that cost around $110 million and will total around 500,000 square feet, according to the Dallas Business Journal. WFAA

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NASA says lack of trained New Orleans workers led to issues with Boeing Artemis rocket program

Posted on by Michael Randle

An undertrained and inexperienced workforce at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans is a key reason for a “degraded state” of quality control on the Artemis project that’s set to send astronauts to the Moon and then Mars in coming decades, according to the space agency’s internal watchdog.

In a scathing report issued Thursday, NASA’s Office of Inspector General cited rocket maker Boeing, which employs more than 1,000 people at Michoud, for dozens of problems on its Space Launch System rockets that are being assembled there.

An upgraded version of the SLS rocket is more than seven years behind schedule and $1 billion over budget, and federal monitors found 71 problems on the Michoud-based project ranging from minor to potentially serious.

“This is a high number…for a space flight system at this stage in development and reflects a recurring and degraded state of product quality control,” said the report, which covered a two-year period from 2021 through 2023.

Economic development leaders have long touted the Artemis program as one of the New Orleans area’s bright spots. But the report said the problems at Michoud are largely due to a “lack of a sufficient number of trained and experienced aerospace workers at Boeing,” which it said was “in part due to Michoud’s geographical location in New Orleans and lower employee compensation relative to other aerospace competitors.” NOLA.com

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