Staff Report
ALBERTVILLE– The City of Albertville and Marshall County on Friday welcomed Newman Technology to the Albertville Industrial Park.
The new plant, a supplier to the Honda Manufacturing of Alabama plant in Lincoln, initially will employ 60 people and begin production in early 2013.
Newman, which manufactures door sashes and exhaust components for Honda, Acura and Subaru, has plans for continued expansion of the facility and the labor force. This will be the company’s first plant in Alabama.
Governor Robert Bentley thanked the company for its confidence in the state’s business climate and said he was glad that the State of Alabama played a role in attracting the company.
“It was a tremendous effort by both our state and local partners working together to bring a company here that will continue to lower the unemployment rate of the area and provide good jobs,” Governor Bentley said.
“We are pleased that Newman Technology will become the newest corporate citizen in Alabama’s thriving automotive supplier base as well as our newest international partner,” said Alabama Department of Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield. “We are proud to be this company’s partner and promise to help encourage its future growth and prosperity here. Welcome to Alabama.”
Albertville officials said the City was engaged in the process from the beginning. “We received the call from ADO (now the Alabama Department of Commerce) late on a Friday afternoon last November. All they told us was to be ready to show multiple sites in Marshall County Monday morning at 10:00 a.m.,” said Matt Arnold, president of the Marshall County Economic Development Council.
Four sites in Marshall County were shown, including two site visits in Albertville shown by Mayor Lindsey Lyons. Later, as the project came together, the company settled on the Bryant Tract, a 20 acre piece of property in the Albertville Industrial Park that was purchased by the Albertville Industrial Development Board in 2001.
After numerous visits from and to Aiken, S.C., Newman Technology of Alabama breaks ground today on a $15+ million facility. “This project is the culmination of a tremendous effort by the City of Albertville and the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation,” said Albertville Mayor Lyons.
Gray Construction, headquartered in Lexington, Ky., will be the general contractor on the project. Gray has designed and built over 300 automotive facilities across the U.S., and has worked in Alabama for 17 years. The company’s Birmingham office will manage this project.
“In addition to the positive impact of jobs, the enthusiasm of Newman officials and Newman’s history of being an outstanding corporate partner cannot be understated. We’re proud and honored they have selected Albertville,” said Mayor Lyons.
Arnold said this project is a good example of how economic development is all about relationships. When company officials visited Alabama under the title “Project Newt” in November 2011, some had been to Marshall County before on another project. “While that project did not materialize, it established relationships with Marshall County economic development officials that helped lead to the announcement we have today,” said Arnold. “You never write off a lead. You never know where it might take you.”
